Why Yorkshire’s mayors must tread carefully when it comes to the visitor levy

Tax raising powers for local leaders are to be broadly welcomed. The outdated model of Whitehall dictating how much money can be raised and then spent on an area needs to be consigned to history.

Allowing mayors to raise money through a visitor levy is another step on the devolution ladder. However, the way that local leaders apply this tax needs to be carefully considered.

Last month, The Yorkshire Post asked whether the region was worth a tourism tax? The answer to that question was, yes but with a caveat.

Chiefly, it comes down to why the region would be worth applying a levy. That is the tourism and hospitality businesses that make this such a welcoming destination in the first place.

If as many are warning that a further tax on top of an already oppressive cost burden could prove fatal, then the level of taxation needs to be diligently thought through.

The tourism levy is widely used across Europe and it’s easy to see how it could be beneficial to all four corners of Yorkshire but given all the pressures that the tourism industry faces it would be foolish for any mayor to treat the levy as a convenient cash grab.

All metro mayors need to bring the tourism and hospitality sector on the journey with them. Otherwise it will feel no different to them than taxes being imposed through Treasury diktat.

There is also the additional challenge of juggling competing needs of different parts of a region as diverse as Yorkshire. It will require great dexterity on the part of the mayors. All mayors should remember the underlying mission of devolution, which is to bring prosperity to all parts of the country.