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Tourist bed tax is ‘discriminatory’
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) says it is strongly opposed to the introduction of a ‘bed tax’ which would be charged to UK hotel guests. The tax has been suggested by local authorities as one way of supplementing reductions in council tax. BHA spokesman, Miles Quest told TravelMole that the bed tax idea is not even considered a ‘proposal’ yet, but nevertheless, the BHA was keen to make sure it didn’t gain ground. He added: “The bed tax has been suggested before as one way of augmenting income from council tax, but nothing has come of it, probably because of the difficulties of collection.” The BHA argues that the money will not be reinvested in tourism, and that the UK will lose out to European countries against which it competes for visitors because it would be more expensive to visit. According to the BHA, visitors staying in the UK already pay the second highest rate of VAT in the European Community. BHA chief executive, Bob Cotton said: “We believe that any suggestion of a tourist tax, on top of VAT which visitors already have to pay, is unfair in principle and poses huge difficulties in interpretation and collection.” According to the BHA, the tax on hotel guests is discriminatory, because it is not faced by day visitors, who already contribute less to the places they are visiting than those who stay overnight. The tax would also be escaped by other accommodation providers like youth hostels and self-catering apartments, according to the BHA. Although it adds that should these be included, collection would be difficult. The BHA added: “Given the size and complexity of the industry, it is likely that the cost of collecting the tax will exceed the revenue obtained, unless the tax is set at a high and even more damaging rate.”
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