Bath Tourist Tax

I appeard on BBC Sunday Politics West supporting a charge on tourists in Bath. We call this a ‘tourism investment fund’ rather than a ‘tourist tax’, as the money can be invested back into the city to fund the infrastructure that will attract tourists to the city in the first place. This is especially important thanks to the huge cuts to central government funding to local authorities - if tourism is to be invested in the money needs to come from somewhere. Should we raise it from the tourists themselves, or local people via council tax or business rates?

Arguing against the charge are Ben Howlett, MP for Bath and Lib Dem ex-MP for Cheltenham Martin Horwood.