Proposed Bed Tax in New Zealand
Bed tax proposal gets angry response from industry.The hotel industry across the ditch has reacted angrily to proposals to introduce a bed tax to help pay for a major new rugby stadium in Auckland.
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In Australia a similar tax was imposed during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 but was later removed. In the UK the hotel industry is waging a full scale campaign against a proposed 5-10% bed tax.
The NZ Government has listed a possible bed tax as a potential funding option for the new $500m rugby stadium to be built in time for the 2011 rugby union World Cup being hosted by New Zealand.
The motel, hotel and tourism industries have all rejected the idea saying that it would severely damage the industry.
The Tourism Industry Association’s chief executive officer Fiona Luhrs said Auckland would become an unaffordable, uncompetitive visitor destination.
She said visitors to Auckland were not ‘cash cows’ who could be milked to pay for a new stadium.
“The tourism industry will vigorously oppose any moves to make visitors pay bed or airport taxes, to fund a new stadium that will benefit the wider community. It’s an insult to our visitors to expect them to pay for a facility that will boost Auckland’s economy. This is an abuse of the principle of user-pays.â€
