Another stealth tax

Everything I have read says that everyone will pay it, not just tourists.

We can of course be tourists in our own country, how would this be decided?

We will just stay at home and go for short day trips avoiding low emission zones and 20 mph speed limit zones.

Kj

It wouldn't need to be decided who pays as it would be applied equally across the  industry. Even your home country is thinking about doing the same and Norway is hardly regarded as the cheapest place in Europe to holiday?

On the wider issue, why do so many people look at such suggestions so negatively? This country is hardly working at the moment. It's not because organisations that provide our services are particularly inefficient but they are starved of funds and the only way that can be corrected is take more away from those that already have very little or we all pay more tax. A tourist type tax would be focused on those that can afford to go on holiday and as SteveL pointed out way back in the thread the reality of such a tax does not massively impact the cost of a holiday. The people that propose such taxes are also not very good at pointing out the benefits that such a tax could bring to a local community. It is a bit like the debate on road pricing some years ago. There was uproar with the suggestion and yet many of the people protesting may well have been far better off with that sort or regime. 

David

It seems the fairest way to get money surely-if you want it you pay for it. I have no problems with that, If I think it is extortionate I won’t pay/visit. If these places are starved of funds from central Govt then they will try anything. We are being short changed in many areas, I fear right now we are being pushed into the USA system of ‘no pay no play’. Tourist tax is just another vehicle to make up the constant shortfall of funds🤷🏻‍♂️

I have no problem with a tourist tax or paying for what I use but I think we are already paying it in many towns, cities and coastal resorts under another guise. And that is public loos. I'm guessing but I think most users of the loos in popular places are the tourists rather than locals. These loos used to be free, (paid for, though, by local council tax payers) but now many are charged for. It used to be, in recent years anyway, 20p, then 40p and now, in some places 50p a time, quite a lot to 'spend a penny' .The income from the loos must out-way any potential tourist tax income which is only levied on those staying overnight and not the myriad of day visitors. This loo charge seems to be an England thing more so. During a two week stay Wales last year I don't recall having to pay to use the loos at all. I can't comment about Scotland.

Yes paying for Loos is a bit weird when you have to use a card and your bank statement states how many times you've used the local loos on holiday (that's me  in Devon recently! )

If a small tax helps local services and infrastructure it might ease some of the problems but some places get extremely overcrowded and can barely cope with or without tax. St Ives is probably one of the worst areas for general overcrowding, a victim of it's own success. We were in Padstow recently and that has suffered from "over tourism" and is looking tired and less attractive.

I seem to recall that in Langollen, it was 40p to use the toilets and that was a few years ago!

So not a tourist tax, but  an accommodation tax.

Norway is a terrible place for taxes and never ending red tape, I am really glad I do not live there any more, so not a country I think we should be looking to copy!

It is generally very expensive, but right now the kroner has plummeted against the £ and other currencies, so a little less expensive for foreign tourists at the moment.  Downside is my pension has also nosedived, and of course, Norwegian tourists are finding it rather pricey to travel abroad.

A flat rate charge would greatly impact less expensive accommodation such as hostels, CLs/CSs and MH stopovers.  The next CL we are using is £15 per night, and there are still some that cost less, so an extra £2 would be a 13.33% increase.

At the risk of getting too political, the problem with some of these taxes is that they may end up being in addition to rather than instead of others, which is what I reckon motorists thought about road pricing.

John

Unfortunately the other side of not charging is shutting them down as has happened in so many places. Toilets not being available is a very stressful thing to many people who I am sure would be happy to pay the amounts you mention. In Europe you are often charged €1 or more to use their public toilets! A tourist tax could specifically could be used to provide free toilets, existing, refurbished and new ones.

David

Personally I don't mind if we have to pay a tourist tax, we do all the time in France. 

My only concern is that I don't trust the government (local councils will decide in Scotland) to spend the monies raised on making tourist experiences better. I read that Edinburgh should benefit by 6 million pounds a year. 

This might happen initially but in a year or 2 will it just get wasted as so much of our taxes are.

The Scottish government have a very big gaping hole to fill, they seem to be unable to do simple maths, why should I and others give them more money to throwaway.