Posted on 10/03/2006 7:00:37 PM PDT by blam
Venice and Florence to tax visitors
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
(Filed: 04/10/2006)
Visitors to Venice and Florence will be taxed up to five euros (£3.40) each a day from next year.
Every day almost as many people visit Venice as live there. The new tax is the only way to balance the books, says it mayor
The cities, which attract 35 million tourists every year, have been given permission by the government to raise the tax to make up for sweeping cuts to their central funding.
Massimo Cacciari, the mayor of Venice, said the new tax was the only way his city could balance its books. The government's new budget had cut most of the city's money for routine maintenance, and funds were need for the construction of flood barriers to keep Venice above water. "The tax is inevitable," he said, adding that he needed 100 million euros (£67.4 million) a year just for restoration work.
"The town has to pay for huge extra costs for services such as security that tourists demand. Every day the city is used by a population almost twice as large as the number of its residents. There are 50,000 tourists for 62,000 residents. We cannot continue to make only our citizens pay for the costs."
The government is in the process of passing its budget for 2007, which includes several emergency measures to reduce the country's perilous public debt. The move to allow cities to charge tourists has been included to sweeten the pill for councils facing shortfalls. Rome and Naples are also considering a tax, while Turin said its visitors would be charged only one or two euros a day.
Leonardo Domenici, the mayor of Florence, said he thought a charge of one euro a day for every "star" held by a visitor's hotel was "reasonable".
Didn't want to go there anyway...I haven't even seen all of Texas yet.
Airport "landing fees" -- passed on to the passengers, of course; rental car taxes to fund the local convention center; huge room taxes in hotels to fund the local museums; and on and on. No taxation without representation? Dream on.
Yearly real estate appraisals.
Visitors want to go there, they should pay for it, right? Ain't nuthin' free in dis world!
Yeppers. Those annual revaluations by the faceless bureaucrats in the city or county revenue department provide cover to the elected officials, who will point out that the tax rate didn't change; it's just that your property became more valuable.
Obviously, city council members and county commissioners think taxpayers are stupid. And sadly, for the most part, they're right.
You know... the supply of money that visitors have isn't unlimited. Tourists are bound to spend a little less during their stay. The people living there will pay this tax, they just won't know it.
Yup, the £3.40 daily is just money that won't make it into the cash registers of local businesses.
There's nothing you can get in Venice for less that 5 Euros. You go to Venice, it's just a rounding error.
"Tourists are bound to spend a little less during their stay."
Yes, and their stay will be a little shorter as well (five euros per day.)
Sounds like another place I shan't visit.
Oh well.
Sounds like another two places I shan't visit.
Oh well.
Hey more taxes, this time in Europe. Can I hear a big amen from our American marxists who love em so much. After all from their standpoint a tax is sweet no matter where it's imposed !!!
Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree.
That's a really good idea, the US should charge $10 a day for visitors. A fee of $5.00 per car and or $2.00 per person should be charged for crossing the border into our country. Finally there should be a tax of 10% for money transfers from the USA to a foreign country.
Venice is essentially a functioning open air medieval theme park anyway. Now they're just confirming it by charging admission, no differnt than Disney World.
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