Look again at tourist tax, top Tories tell the Chancellor

SENIOR Tory MPs have urged Jeremy hunt to launch an independent assessment of scrapping the tourist tax after new research found it would give Britain a £10 billion boost.

In a letter to the Chancellor, grandees Sir Geoffrey CliftonBrown and Damian Green highlighted the differences between the new findings and out-of-date Treasury analysis.

The report by the Centre for economics and Business Research (CEBR), published in the Mail this week, found that bringing back taxfree shopping for overseas tourists would have a net positive effect on tax revenues.

Britain’s economy would be more than £10 billion a year better off as a result of reinstating VAT refunds – and Government coffers would benefit by £2 billion a year, it said.

It comes after Britain’s biggest brands backed the Mail’s campaign to Scrap the Tourist Tax – with 350 businesses signing a letter to the Chancellor demanding a rethink.

highlighting the findings, Sir Geoffrey and Mr Green said that unlike the Treasury – which estimated that the cost of VAT refunds would be £2billion annually – the CEBR found it would bring in net positive receipts of up to £2.3billion each year.

They wrote to Mr hunt: ‘It would be appreciated if you were able to reply to this request for an independent assessment into the full impact of tax-free shopping on the UK economy and tax revenues.’

The MPs wanted a response before Sir Geoffrey leads a backbench debate next month on the issue.

Scores of businesses have warned that the tourist tax is holding Britain back – hampering businesses across the whole economy.

hotelier Sir Rocco Forte, who has led the campaign, has previously accused ministers of having ‘tied one hand behind the backs of businesses’ by abolishing the rebate.

Last night Dee Corsi, chief executive of the New West end Company and chairman of the Association of International Retail, told the Mail: ‘It is now time for the Government to listen to the overwhelming voice of businesses across the UK, who are clear that the absence of taxfree shopping is hindering growth.’

The Treasury scrapped tax-free shopping for overseas tourists in 2021 but kept it for goods purchased in the UK and sent directly to an overseas address. It was approached for comment last night.

AS an example of flawed logic, Jeremy Hunt’s plan to end VAT-free shopping for foreign visitors is hard to beat.

The Chancellor believes the measure will raise £2billion. Meanwhile, analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research says the Treasury will lose £2.3billion in net receipts, as high-spending tourists desert Britain and take their business elsewhere.

It’s time for Mr Hunt to apply some joined-up thinking and abandon this perverse and ill-conceived reform.