Tourism levy

[Salt n Vinegar]

1 hour ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

The idea of a politician getting excited at free money when they are failing to provide decent services doesnt exactly come across as ‘gotcha’. 
What they should be doing is making the air bnb landlords pay 3x standard rate council tax. 
Genuinely could see the merit of this tax if we were offering a premium service, all its going to do is chase people over to Ireland who would instead come here. Short sighted stuff potentially pricing working class tourists from round the world from coming here. The only reason the locals are in favour of it is because they think it’ll reduce their council tax. 

I don't think I was looking for a gotcha. I'm not even convinced that it would cut Council Tax. What the levy might do is reduce upward pressure on CT for the future and allow more certainly in tourism support funding if there is a reasonably predictable, ring-fenced revenue stream.  The tourism support aspects of the council budget are under the same pressure as all the others, like education and social work, so if current or increased spending on tourism support can come directly from tourism itself, to me, that's a win-win. 

FWIW, on the party political point, if the Labour councillor who is Leader of the City Council felt there was an opportunity to attack the SNP at Holyrood over the proposal, he'd be in there in big tackety boots. 

I'm not sure what Sarwar's view is. A quick Google search didn't produce anything about him but, again FWIW, the search pulled up an editorial from the Herald a few days ago that seemed supportive. The Herald is rarely a cheerleader for the current Scottish Government. One might be drawn to the conclusion that a tourism levy might be a good idea. 

 

 

[Leith Green]

2 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

The idea of a politician getting excited at free money when they are failing to provide decent services doesnt exactly come across as ‘gotcha’. 
What they should be doing is making the air bnb landlords pay 3x standard rate council tax. 
Genuinely could see the merit of this tax if we were offering a premium service, all its going to do is chase people over to Ireland who would instead come here. Short sighted stuff potentially pricing working class tourists from round the world from coming here. The only reason the locals are in favour of it is because they think it’ll reduce their council tax. 

You might want to read mine a page back about council tax reductions. A blanket 3x or whatever just wont work............because it wont catch all of them out.

As to your other points

-  £1 a day or whatever will "chase people over to Ireland" when a pint is €9 in Dublin? I think not.

- Locals have zero expectation of a reduction in council tax, people only hope that this would - deal with the litter etc caused by too many tourists in one small part of the city centre.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

31 minutes ago, Leith Green said:

You might want to read mine a page back about council tax reductions. A blanket 3x or whatever just wont work............because it wont catch all of them out.

As to your other points

-  £1 a day or whatever will "chase people over to Ireland" when a pint is €9 in Dublin? I think not.

- Locals have zero expectation of a reduction in council tax, people only hope that this would - deal with the litter etc caused by too many tourists in one small part of the city centre.

Well introduce an ‘arsehole tory landlord’ tax then, whatever needs to be brought in. Take 50% of their revenue and invest it in affordable housing. 
 

Maybe not Dublin but other areas? Whatever the amount its a rip off to charge toursits, who are net contributors to this countries economy a fucking tax to have the audacity to want to come and spend money that generates tax revenue and keeps people in jobs already. Its short sighted nonsense. If anything we should be removing barriers stopping tourists from coming to this country and setting higher standards in our service industry, driving up customer service and professionalising it to the point it provides better wages and is an attractive prospect for our workforce. 
 

As someone who has worked at large scale events in Edinburgh etc most of the ‘litter’ isnt left by the tourists, the drink bottles etc left by locals or students/posh folks in the meadows. What your point here is this thing that happens anywhere in tourist heavy places where the local residents want to blame their arsehole behaviour such as litter etc on the people who pass through the place. Ive seen it in Florida where they blame the bad driving on ‘tourists’ despite most of the bad driving etc coming from locals in non hire cars. 
Treating people who actively want to come to our country when they could go literally anywhere else in the world and spend their money with that level of contempt is shite and just sends the message to me that they are going to be milked. 
Venice charges a tourist tax because the volume of visitors to the island is putting it at risk of falling into the sea. Edinburgh should get in the sea for considering this. 

[Leith Green]

6 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

As someone who has worked at large scale events in Edinburgh etc most of the ‘litter’ isnt left by the tourists, the drink bottles etc left by locals or students/posh folks in the meadows. What your point here is this thing that happens anywhere in tourist heavy places where the local residents want to blame their arsehole behaviour such as litter etc on the people who pass through the place. Ive seen it in Florida where they blame the bad driving on ‘tourists’ despite most of the bad driving etc coming from locals in non hire cars. 
Treating people who actively want to come to our country when they could go literally anywhere else in the world and spend their money with that level of contempt is shite and just sends the message to me that they are going to be milked. 
Venice charges a tourist tax because the volume of visitors to the island is putting it at risk of falling into the sea. Edinburgh should get in the sea for considering this. 

That you have worked the odd event doesnt mean you have got the first clue about living here (and lets be honest, its not like you were doing an assessment of who was dropping the litter, eh?).

That local residents in many towns and cities drop litter is demonstrably true - it certainly happens in the Meadows when the shows are on, or after BBQs etc.

But only a complete idiot would not (or maybe cant allow themselves to) acknowledge that the massive extra numbers of tourists in the city centre, esp in August, generate a vast amount of additional litter. My eyes tell me that much.

As many have said already here, the tiny amount per day will have almost zero impact on tourist spend - it happens in many countries and cities already.

p.s. This is a Scottish Govt initiative, not just Edinburgh - and I will bet you a weeks tourist tax that it will be all over the place, Glasgow, Highlands etc if implemented.

 

[ScotiaNostra]

unfortunately If its a scottish gov initative, its odds of being implemented are stacked against it. 

[Trogdor]

On 01/06/2023 at 13:32, ScotiaNostra said:

unfortunately If its a scottish gov initative, its odds of being implemented are stacked against it. 

This the way.

[coprolite]

On 31/05/2023 at 08:53, Leith Green said:

Its more nuanced than that.

1 - Holiday Lets which are licensed and run as businesses can claim small business relief if their calculated rateable value is <£12000 (same as any other business which qualifies). That is on the +side of the financial equation for them.

However, if they run as a business then there are various disadvantages to running a non-development property company - e.g. BTL mortages require a larger deposit and cost more, also they can not claim the mortgage payment interest against tax (which is unusual v other businesses) - these can be pretty major -ves depending on how much the interest payment is and how leveraged they are on the loans.

People who run these as businesses have some pretty big expenses - if they are doing it correctly - and dont make the fortunes that everyone thinks. 

2 - Those who run holiday lets unlicensed and pretend they are not running a business have to pay council tax as to do otherwise would open them up to claims of running a business, they would need licensed and to comply with local authority regulations etc.

 

Based on my experience in Edinburgh (I run a business working in property maintenance, inc rentals) the problem with the rampant growth in the sector is not with those run as a business, but rather the opportunists who dive in, dont have a BTL mortgage, dont have proper insurance, dont pay the correct tax (if at all), dont have or want a licence, dont want to put in things like CO and Smoke alarms etc.

Furnished holiday lets are not subject to the mortgage interest restriction. 

You couldn't claim that relief for letting to a resident. 

And capital allowances are available. 

You couldn't claim that relief for letting to a resident either. 

The income tax rules incentivise holiday lets. On top of the existing economic incentive.