Bed Tax!

Bed Tax!

“The reluctance of the Government to outline the ways with which the stadium of New Zealand is to be funded is a concern! The statement that they will legislate to enable Local Authorities to raise funding from areas other than rates leaves the door wide open for an accommodation tax” said Michael Baines Chief Executive of the Motel Association of New Zealand.

“It is frightening to think of Local Authorities being given the power to have their own accommodation tax (bed tax). What a nightmare; the thought of Local Body officers administering a tax on Bed & Breakfasts, Holiday Parks, Luxury Lodges, Apartments, Holiday Homes, Hotels, Motels and the like, is too ludicrous to imagine. Would it mean roadblocks to tax Camper vans that chose to stay in the public domains?”

“It is nonsense; we believe that any bed tax would inevitably be borne by the Hotels, Motels and Backpackers. Why? Because it would be too hard to administer, they can’t even apply commercial rates to the likes of B&Bs, Apartments, Holiday homes etc now, so how would they tax them? If they do single out Hotels, Motels and Backpackers then that is discrimination at its best. Where the issue is rugby, it is ironic to think that a level playing field would get thrown out the window!”

“The Motel industry is the largest provider of Accommodation in New Zealand yet it is an industry of individually owned businesses. They are small businesses working all hours to make a living in a very difficult and competitive sector. To believe that they will be able to pass on the costs of a Bed Tax to the customer is ludicrous; to believe they have the resources to administer it is criminal. We hear constant calls to lower the compliance burden on Small Businesses and then we have talk of a bed tax; perhaps the government’s left hand and the right hand are not working together; dyslexic perhaps?”

“We totally support the Tourism Industry Association’s stance on any proposed Bed Tax and we believe that a tax of this nature is ill conceived, discriminatory and impossible to administer equitably!”

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