Bath, the city known for Jane Austen, Georgian row houses and, well, its baths may be on the verge of a new distinction: England’s first per-person per-bed tourist tax.
Members of the local council are considering it as a way to make up for £37 million (about $45 million) in cuts it expects over the next five years. The tax would be a £1 per person per night charge at hotels and B&Bs.
The councilor pointed out that similar taxes are common in Europe, and that he expects to pay about €1 a night when he travels. “It is something we believe, in an area that receives as many tourists as we do from all over the world, we ought to be allowed to consider.”
Others have pointed out, though, that Britain’s VAT (value-added tax) already applies to hotel rooms at a 20% rate, while the countries where the bed charge is common have rates of 7 to 10% VAT. While Bath would be the first in England to try a bed tax, Edinburgh, Scotland planned one a few years ago, but then dropped the idea.
