From Julia Carrick to all TFS supporters:
Dear all
I hope that you are having a good summer so far.
The campaign to scrap the tourist tax is once again gathering pace as the new government settles in and begins to set out its priorities. The King’s Speech put heavy emphasis on the Treasury’s determination to take all necessary steps to promote economic growth.
We feel it is vital, therefore, to focus on scrapping the tourist tax as a pro-growth measure that should be implemented urgently by any government that is serious about stimulating the economy. We also need to continue to emphasise that this is not an issue affecting only a few luxury stores in the West End of London, but one that impacts the entire tourist economy across the whole country.
We have drafted an open letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves making the case and asking her to consider this measure in her first Budget, expected in the autumn. We will also use the letter to drive media coverage. You kindly lent your name to the previous letter addressed to Jeremy Hunt which, thanks to the efforts of James Chapman at Soho Comms, who is leading the PR side of our campaign, gained enormous amounts of media attention.
We hope therefore that you will be willing to sign this new letter to Ms Reeves, text below.
Please review it, and if you are happy to add your name or that of your CEO/chairman/owner/founder/general manager, let me know by return email.
Thank you and I much look forward to hearing from you.
With very best wishes
Julia
Julia Carrick OBE
07899961617
The open letter to the Chancellor
Dear Chancellor
As business leaders representing the retail, hospitality, travel, tourism and arts sectors, we welcome your Government’s promise to focus on measures that promote economic growth above all else.
After years of lacklustre performance, getting UK plc firing on all cylinders again is vital for prosperity and jobs across the country.
We are writing to ask you to urgently implement one change that would give the economy an immediate shot in the arm.
In 2021, in the aftermath of the pandemic that had hit businesses like ours hard, the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak scrapped the tax-free shopping scheme for tourists that had existed for decades.
This decision came as a shock to those working in our sectors and many of us warned at the time that there would be a heavy price to pay. So it has proved. What has become known as the ‘tourist tax’ has turned into a spectacular own goal for the UK.
It means the UK is now the only country in Europe that does not offer tax-free shopping to tourists, leaving British businesses at a massive global disadvantage.
This does not just affect a few luxury stores in London’s West End, as some have claimed. People are increasingly choosing to shop in Paris, Milan and Berlin rather than here because the VAT rebate has gone. The entire tourist economy is affected, whether that be regional tourist centres or manufacturers down the supply chain, hotels and restaurants, taxis, galleries and museums, cafes… the list is endless. Every high street is seeing the impact.
Analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has concluded that not only would reintroducing a tax-free shopping scheme be affordable, but that the cost of restoring the tax break would be far outweighed by the stimulus in tourist spending in other areas, including hospitality, restaurants, transport and the arts.
Visitor numbers could have been two million higher last year if a tax-free shopping scheme had been in place while in terms of the GDP impact, additional expenditure would have equated to an output boost of £11.1 billion.
The Cebr said that restoring the scheme would deliver a significant boost to the public finances because of the amounts spent by tourists across the economy, with a net fiscal gain of £2.5 billion.
The UK would also be able to offer savings to a new market of 500 million EU consumers because of its place outside the EU.
Your predecessor promised last year to ‘look again at the numbers’ and indicated that he hoped that restoring tax-free shopping would prove affordable. But nothing was done.
You now have a chance to show that you are listening to the voice of business and pulling every available lever to promote growth.
Businesses of all shapes and sizes are calling on you to take action and scrap the tourist tax. Senior politicians from every main party, including several former Chancellors and Labour’s Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, agree.
Keeping the tourist tax in place means that all of our businesses are operating with one hand tied behind their backs.
We urge you to take decisive action, scrap the tourist tax and boost economic growth.
Yours sincerely