The tourist tax is causing the UK to fall behind European rivals
Ahead of his Spring Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is casting around for measures to promote that most elusive of things, economic growth.
It’s a feeling I know well from my days at the Treasury as an adviser to George Osborne.
Happily, there is one pro-growth measure Mr Hunt can take down from the shelf and announce on March 6 that will win plaudits from across the business community and stimulate the economy.
For the last year, the PR firm I co-founded, Soho Communications, has been coordinating a campaign to scrap the so-called ‘tourist tax’. Clients including Rocco Forte Hotels and Kurt Geiger told us their businesses were being hit by the removal of tax-free shopping for tourists by Rishi Sunak in 2021.
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