Stop the bed tax campaign

Having first highlighted the dangers of the proposed ‘bed tax’ in the Daily Post and Western Mail on the 14th June, I am delighted that business and tourism organisations in North Wales, such as the FSB and North Wales Tourism (NWT) are now backing the call against yet another burden on those businesses that make up the backbone of the North Wales economy. Esther Roberts of NWT (with the author in the picture above) has e-mailed a petition to all its members and I am pleased to see that a number have these on hotel reception desks to sign.

Whilst some have naively stated that the Lyons review is only considering the possibility of the bed tax in England, it is absolute nonsense to think that local authorities in Wales will not be examining its recommendations for raising council finance, especially as the Beecham Review of public services in Wales did not even touch on the subject of council tax reform. Indeed, the Welsh Local Government Association – representing all councils in Wales – has already stated that it looks forward to examining in detail the recommendations of the Lyons review and their implementation in Wales.

More significantly, Sir Michael Lyons himself said at a meeting in the Welsh Assembly last year that he would be considering how overseas examples of tourism taxes would be examined to “gauge more carefully how they might fit in, if at all, to an English or a Welsh context”.

It would be a big mistake for anyone to assume that, given the opportunity, councils in Wales will not introduce this tax at the same time as English local authorities. To bury our heads in the sand over the issue and hoping it will go away is not the solution. Instead, we need to make absolutely that small businesses in North Wales are not subjected to further red-tape and stealth taxes, and they certainly do not want to be future tax collectors for the local council.

Please sign our online petition and ensure that this bedtax is stopped once and for all.

www.petitiononline.com/bedtax

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