[Koha] Edinburgh tourist tax

[Dianna Roberts]

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 at phonecoop.coop>
To: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
Subject: Re: [Koha] Edinburgh tourist tax
Message-ID: <E1S5alB-0006bJ-JB at petrol.towers.org.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

"Dianna Roberts" <Dianna.Roberts at 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/