DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The last thing we need is a tax on our holidays, Prime Minister
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It hardly requires a PhD in economics to figure out that the last thing needed by the tourism industry or, indeed, England is another tax.
Yet Andy Burnham, in his wisdom, has decided it is an opportune moment to allow regional mayors and authorities to impose an uncapped levy on everyone who has an overnight stay in their area.
Even at the best of times, this would be a questionable idea. But it is both irresponsible and potentially ruinous when the tourism sector is already reeling from a series of damaging blows.
The abolition of tax-free shopping for international visitors continues to have a negative effect on revenue. Hotels – already lumbered with a punitive VAT rate of 20 per cent – are struggling with increases in the youth minimum wage and other anti-business measures introduced by Labour.
It would also be difficult to exaggerate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the staycation market. With fears growing of a ‘triple whammy’ of rises in energy bills, interest rates and taxes, hard-working Britons are likely to have even less money to spare for the occasional weekend away.
Against that backdrop, a responsible government might have tried to try stimulate growth rather than snuffing it out. Not the Burnham administration, though. Its response is to effectively punish people for taking a well-deserved break.
Andy Burnham , in his wisdom, has decided it is an opportune moment to allow regional mayors and authorities to impose an uncapped levy on everyone who has an overnight stay in their area
Given that this hardly sounds like a recipe for increasing occupancy rates in the nation’s hotels, little wonder that senior figures in the hospitality sector are already warning of a jobs bloodbath.
But we shouldn’t be in the least bit surprised. Down through the generations, the insatiable appetite among Labour’s top brass for creating new taxes (or hiking the existing ones) has only been matched by their unwillingness to reduce spending.
Nothing we have seen so far suggests that Mr Burnham is any different. And everything bitter experience has taught us indicates it will end in disaster for the economy.
Easy pickings...
With his pig-headed refusal to treat defence spending seriously, the Prime Minister is leaving Britain more exposed by the day.
It doesn’t take an expert in geopolitics to see that the threat from hostile powers is growing ever more serious and frightening.
Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove warned yesterday that China could bring Britain to a ‘standstill’ by switching off access to our power grid. It has also emerged that UK and US forces foiled a Russian plot involving a secret weapon specially designed to disable vital undersea cables. The potential consequences hardly bear thinking about.
By insisting that he will not sacrifice ‘social security’ to keep Britain safe, the PM has effectively stated his priorities. Yet in case anyone doubted his determination to keep the welfare carousel spinning at full speed, an update from the Government’s review into personal independence payments (PIPs) - which are paid to qualifying disability claimants - spelled it out in black and white.
It recommended that the application process should be revised to make it ‘as easy as possible’. Given that the annual bill for PIPs is on course to top £41billion by 2030, filling out the relevant form can hardly have been too problematic in the first place.
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