Visiting London? You Should Pay a Tourist Tax
Cities from Tokyo to Rome impose levies on tourism. The UK would do well to learn from them.
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Source: Bloomberg
Taxes have always been as inevitable as death. In Rachel Reeves’ Britain, it’s looking like tax increases are now as unavoidable as the grim reaper. The chancellor must find billions of pounds to fill a black hole in the public finances before the autumn budget. So far, she has proven unable to cut public spending thanks to a series of rebellions by Labour MPs. And Keir Starmer’s “defining mission” of making the sums add up by turbocharging growth has also been stymied, partly by Reeves’ move to hike national insurance for employers in her last budget. GDP figures out Thursday came in at a relatively anemic 0.3% increase for the second quarter of 2025.
That leaves taxes and, having ruled out increasing the burden on “working people,” Reeves and her team are spending the summer eying other sources of cash. One idea being pushed by some in Westminster is a tourist tax. It’s worth taking seriously, both for the potential to raise some much-needed revenue and as a driver of growth.