by London should follow Manchester and Liverpool and World Cities like Paris and New York and, according to the politicians of the capital, introduce a “tourist tax”.
Visitors were charged a “modest” fee for every night stay, whether in a hotel room or in an apartment that is rented through websites like Airbnb.
Depending on the levy, this could increase in the region of 250 million GBP per year so that the mayor of London was reinvested in the capital.
The call comes from the supervisory committee of Greater London Authority, a panel of the members of the London meeting, which have checked the powers and skills of the town hall to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the GLA.
Bassam Mahfouz, the member of the Labor Assembly, chairman of the Supervisory Board, said that London was “held back” because he was “held back” because he was “held back”.
He said: “This report is asking the government not to miss the golden opportunity to grant London the authority to introduce a tourism tax – a measure that was supported by 41 percent of Londoners.
“It is a real win-win-win-win situation: essential means, improvement in the services for the residents and the strengthening of the global attraction of London. Compared to other global cities, London is an outlier if it has none.”
At the moment, the mayor can only achieve a direct income of a regulations for the tax invoices of the Council – currently 490 GBP for a typical London household – business rates and transport for London tariffs.
This means that the mayor is dependent on the national government for about two thirds of his annual budget, which is mainly used to finance Metropolitan Police, the London Fire Brigade and TFL Transport Network.
A spokesman for Sir Sadiq Khan said on Monday: “Every year, London attracts millions of visitors who come here to experience our world -class museums and galleries, to visit our historical attractions and enjoy an amazing selection of sporting events.
“The mayor believes that a modest tourist levy that resembles other international cities, improve our economy, deliver growth and contribute to consolidating London’s call as a global tourism and business goal.”
Visitors to hotels in the district of Manchester Business Business Improvement are calculated £ 1 per night per hotel room. Liverpool hired £ 2 in June.
Edinburgh will be the first Scottish city that introduces a tourist tax, a five -tunic levy about the cost of night accommodation – which was packed on five nights on the stay – come into force on July 24th next year.
Money, money, money: How world cities benefit from a tourist tax (GLA)
Paris has a tourism tax (Taxe de Séjour) that is set per person and night and varies depending on the type of accommodation. French capital expects it to increase 135 million euros from tax in 2025, since the number of tourists will be increased after the 2024 Olympics.
New York City operates a hotel unit that costs 1.50 USD per unit and in addition to state and local sales taxes.
Berlin has operated a city tax since 2014. The interest rate is currently 7.5 percent of the net price of a room in any kind of short -term paid accommodation.
Milans Tourism Levy is used to finance “tourist services as well as recovery and/or maintaining the city’s cultural and ecological assets”.
Toronto charges a municipal accommodation tax (MAT) with a price of six percent of the space costs per night. By July 2026, this will increase to 8.5 percent in order to finance the cost of organizing the 2026 World Cup.
Boris Johnson (left) and his successor as Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan (Pa Wire)
Boris Johnson and Sir Sadiq founded commissions in their time as mayor London Finance to examine how more funds can be generated for the town hall.
According to the analysis of GLA Economics in 2017, a tourism tax in London could generate between 77 million GBP and 240 million GBP per year depending on the design.
The idea of a tourism tax is also supported by Claire Holland, the head of the London council, the organization, which represents the 33 districts.
In June of this year, Sir Sadiq signed a letter with five other subway citizens who asked the government to grant devices to implement a tourism tax.
At that time, Sir Sadiq said: “Every year London attracts millions of visitors who come here to experience our world -class museums and galleries, to visit our historical attractions and to enjoy an astonishing selection of sporting events.
“A modest submission of night accommodation, similar to other international cities, would improve our economy, deliver growth and help to determine London’s reputation as a global tourism and business goal.”
He added: “My promise to the hotels, Airbnbs etc. is that the money is used to improve the environment to encourage more tourists.”
The GLA supervisory committee wants the government to change the law on English devolution and community empowerment, while it goes through the parliament to enable a determination that will be included in the GLA with revenue survival in the future.
It wants a tourist ring tax to be in operation by the beginning of the 2027-28 financial year.
The committee said that Sir Sadiq should start a formal commitment process with the London assembly, the London councils, the business representatives and the stakeholders of the tourism sector by the end of 2025 in order to build a consensus for the introduction of a tourism tax.
It is also expected that the bill will return to the “supplementary system of voting system” to select the mayor after the post was used for the first time in the 2024 mayor elections.
Hina Bokhari, leader of the Lib-Dem group in the London meeting, said: “We welcome the report of the supervisory committee about the London decentralization, in particular the support for a tourism tax, which is long overdue.
“If the mayor’s powers may be expanded, we cannot allow London to make London an ever powerful executive without adequate democratic supervision.
“The liberal democrats believe that the meeting must have stronger household powers – from two thirds to a simple majority for changes – to ensure that this devolution is responsible towards the Londoners.”
