Key looks at a tourism tax

Stuff reports:

Prime Minister John Key has indicated some form of tourist tax is needed to pay for much needed infrastructure.

Speaking at Wednesday’s tourism industry summit in Wellington, Key, who is also tourism minister, said possibilities ranged from departure or bed taxes, to tourist levies, but “doing nothing” was not an option.

“I don’t think you can sustain going from three to four to five million tourists and not be, frankly, building more toilets and more facilities.” …

Using some of the $2.8 billion in GST earned from tourism was seen as the easy option, but it could be removed as a cost cutting measure if there was a change of government to one that put less emphasis on tourism, Key said.

So let’s be clear tourists more than pay their way through the GST they pay on purchases in NZ.

If there is a case for a dedicated tourist tax, then it should only occur if other taxes are reduced. A National Government should not be increasing taxes overall.