O/T Jeremy corbyn

[KerrAvon]

How come we don’t have a tourist tax in the UK when in certain parts of Spain they do?

Because taxation is generally a matter for national governments as opposed to the EU and we choose not to have a tourist tax?

[ragingpup]

I think you do rude just as well as I do.

The Tories are a party that believes in low taxation, small government and, by extension, self-reliance and personal endeavour (I’ve not looked up the Wikipedia definition of right wing, but suspect that won’t be far off from mine). Those are the policies that the Tories pursued – and the country loved - in the 1980s as income tax rates were slashed and people were encouraged and assisted to own their homes etc. With that being the case, I don’t think it generally right to call their low tax policies a bribe – it’s their natural ground.

Labour, on the other hand, advocate a larger state in which personal endeavour and self-reliance matter less. That manifests itself in some people choosing reliance on the state and economic inactivity as a way of life. So I would not call higher levels of benefits a bribe - that’s Labour’s natural ground.

The tuition fee promise was clearly a cynical attempt to buy votes, however. Tuition fees were introduced to fund the explosion in higher education provision that occurred in the nineties and noughties. That funding made university education available to the many as opposed to the situation in the seventies were it was available to only the few. Tuition fees are also, in effect, a progressive tax; those who benefit from securing a degree and earn well end up paying the money back – those who don’t are likely to find a proportion of the debt being written off at the end of the payment period.

I see the Johnson promise as a bribe as I do not believe there is a case for it at the moment. I wouldn’t want to see even more people being caught by the higher rate, but I don’t see any great injustice as it stands.

I think you may have taken my ‘couldn’t be bothered’ post to heart. At the moment I don’t have the time to post to the extent that you and some others do and so am declining to be taken off on the tangents that your posts often involve, unless the tangent is particularly interesting to me.

So you don't think it's right to call the tories low tax policies a bribe as it "is their natural ground"?

Ok.

[John2]

How come we don’t have a tourist tax in the UK when in certain parts of Spain they do?

haha, this is your level of understanding of how Europe operates as it does any why... evidently none existent!

Spain is a sovereign nation responsible for its own taxation policies.

[KerrAvon]

So you don't think it's right to call the tories low tax policies a bribe as it "is their natural ground"?

Ok.

I think my position is clear from my post. I don't see Labour's high benefits policies as a bribe for the same reason.

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

Because taxation is generally a matter for national governments as opposed to the EU and we choose not to have a tourist tax?

That was my question, why don’t we do it?

I see Venice is considering doing the same.

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

haha, this is your level of understanding of how Europe operates as it does any why... evidently none existent!

Spain is a sovereign nation responsible for its own taxation policies.

I’ve replied above.

[KerrAvon]

That was my question, why don’t we do it?

I see Venice is considering doing the same.

Because we don't wish to discourage tourism? Who knows. Write to Philip Hammond if it's troubling you.

[Grist_To_The_Mill]

Because we don't wish to discourage tourism? Who knows. Write to Philip Hammond if it's troubling you.

Nah, it’s easier to ask here, as I know that you or John2 (hard to tell the difference, if there is a difference) will cut and paste some wisdom from Wikipedia that answers the question.

[ragingpup]

I think my position is clear from my post. I don't see Labour's high benefits policies as a bribe for the same reason.

What voters are labour attracting with their high benefits 'bribe'? Everyone pays tax and therefore has a stake in being bribed by tax cuts. How many of us are bribed by benefit increases? And when have labour had a policy of "high benefits"? What do you mean?

[John2]

That was my question, why don’t we do it?

I see Venice is considering doing the same.

Because we are a sovereign nation with our own tax laws too.

I've done an awful lot of travelling in the last few years, there are many hidden (or sometimes transparent) costs depending on where you go. These costs do have a big impact on how desirable a place is to visit.

London has been the most visited city in the world in recent years (with Paris up there and Bangkok current reigning #1).

This is in part because London has great free museums and a lot of free iconic landmarks to visit, palaces etc. We also make it very cheap and easy for people to visit, for example we do not ask Americans to pay any costs (they make us pay $14 every 2 years just for permission to fly there).

Our strategy has contributed to the huge number of wealthy tourists from overseas that have contributed huge sums to our economy. In fact tourism is 10% of our GDP and generates 3.8m jobs. Changing our strategy introduces risks.

There may be some ways to extract more money from visitors, but I guess we've decided the costs aren't worth it. We have a strong reputation of being "open for business", it may make us more than it costs to start sneakily getting overseas visitors to hand over £20 when they arrive at the airport for something, but subtle things like that can slowly erode a long built reputation.

When I've spent times in various European cities over the last couple of months, I've been disappointed how frequently museums and the like extract as much money from tourists as possible. We have some of the finest in the world, I proudly recommend the UK as a place to visit for reasons like these.

I loved visiting India, but I'm a LOT less likely to spontaneously return because it's well over £100 and a load of hassle to apply for a visa if I see cheap flights that appeal to me.

I was in Venice last month, beautiful city, but a lot of people believe Venice attracts 'too many' tourists. The number of visitors for such a tiny area is huge compared to other cities. Perhaps a tax is being considered to temper demand, and also raise revenues. Taxes often address the specific needs and conditions of the locality they are collected in.