Highland visitor levy ‘a tax on expectant mums and unborn babies’
The proposed Highland tourist tax has been condemned by Caithness healthcare campaigners as “a shameful levy on the sick”.
Consultation is under way on a visitor levy scheme which could be worth £10 million a year to Highland Council.
However, Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) argues that it would penalise hospital patients and family members from the far north and other parts of the region who need to book overnight accommodation in Inverness.
CHAT calls the levy “a tax on expectant mums and unborn babies”, given that the vast majority of women from the far north give birth at Raigmore.
At the heart of the tourist tax issue is how to pay for infrastructure that supports mass tourism.
Earlier this year the Scottish Government passed the Visitor Levy Bill which allows councils to set up an additional payment for overnight stays, if they choose.
Highland Council agreed last month to launch a formal consultation on a five per cent charge. The consultation has recently been extended to run until March 31.
Councillor Ken Gowans, chairman of the economy and infrastructure committee, is encouraging businesses, community groups and residents as well as visitors to have their say.
CHAT vice-chairman Iain Gregory said: “We all know that the main issue we face in the Highlands is the exponential rise in ‘wild camping’, mainly by motorhomes, which are to be found parked up in every possible nook and cranny around the North Coast 500, and there is little doubt that the impact of huge numbers of campervans visiting our area is seen by many people as something that needs to be addressed.”
He noted a section of the council’s sustainable tourism strategy document indicating that patients travelling to receive NHS treatment would be classed as visitors within the legislation and would be required to pay the levy. Expenses for travel and accommodation can be claimed from the health board at limited rates of reimbursement.
At the same time, the legislation “does not enable a visitor levy to be applied to campervan and motorhome visitors that do not stay on campsites or caravan parks, or to cruise ship passengers”.
Mr Gregory said: “To summarise matters, the campervans that seem to cause the most disruption to life in our area will not be subject to the proposed tax, while the thousands of Caithness people who have to stay overnight in Inverness in order to access medical appointments – or who simply wish to visit friends and family, or go to the theatre, or have a break – will have to pay a five per cent tax, plus VAT, as they are now decreed to be ‘tourists’.
“And a pregnant mum, already forced to undergo the torturous 100-mile-plus journey to Raigmore to have her baby, and who requires to stay overnight before or after admission, will be taxed by Highland Council.
“I note the council claims that ‘NHS policy states that patients can claim expenses from their local NHS board’. I would suggest that someone in Highland Council needs to have a careful look at that policy. The current rate of reimbursement, as published by NHS Highland, is an overnight B&B rate of ‘up to £50 per person per night’.
"I would be delighted to hear from Highland Council where precisely in Inverness B&B accommodation can be obtained for ‘up to £50 per night’ and still leave headroom for the person to pay an additional tax to the council.
“The truth is that this proposal is a shameful levy on the sick and a tax on expectant mums and unborn babies. If it goes through then thousands of people from Caithness, and all over the Highlands, will be taxed because they are ill.
“We call on Highland Council to have a rapid rethink of this disastrous proposal.”
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