Hi MJ, I believe you are right in correcting me on this one as after further investigation I see that it is still only a proposal. I had misinterpreted what the 20% tax was referring to, not realising that it was in fact VAT. Thanks for the clarification, and the reminder that I should be able to claim a refund! Regards, Dianna Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:39:49 +0000 From: MJ Ray <mjr@phonecoop.coop> To: koha@lists.katipo.co.nz Subject: Re: [Koha] Edinburgh tourist tax Message-ID: <E1S5alB-0006bJ-JB@petrol.towers.org.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 "Dianna Roberts" <Dianna.Roberts@opus.co.nz>
Be aware that Edinburgh applies a tourist tax to all hotel bookings at the rate of 20% per night. I discovered this when making a booking last night.
Are you sure? A ?2-a-night tax has been suggested but reports say city governments don't have the legal powers to raise such a tax: http://www.eturbonews.com/26930/minister-edinburghs-planned-tourist-tax-not- legal The current UK rate of Value Added Tax is 20%, which might be what that was. To individuals, VAT behaves pretty much like a sales tax, but I believe the law is that you must show tax-included prices to them - and non-EU visitors can claim a tax refund when you leave. More on this at http://wikitravel.org/en/United_Kingdom#Shopping - other than that, VAT is evil because it taxes the poor more than the rich, but our shiny-faced leader shows no sign of changing it in the budget later this month, so a tax cut would be a surprise. If you spot any Edinburgh sites that aren't aimed at business sales quoting VAT-excluded prices, let us (software.coop) know and we'll report them to local customer protection agents. Anyway, if there is now a tourist tax, let me know more and I'll update our notes, but I'm pretty sure there isn't one yet. Hope that explains, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/