Wolverhampton nightclub boss criticises plans for 'tourist tax'

Hospitality businesses are ‘being squeezed from almost every direction,’ says a Wolverhampton bar owner after the Government announced it would be giving regional mayors the power to impose a ‘tourism tax’.

Shaun Keasey, chairman of the city’s Pubwatch group, accused the Government of failing to understand the pressures facing small businesses, and warned that continued increases in tax and employment costs risked destroying businesses and jobs.

Mr Keasey, who owns Gorgeous nightclub, the George Wallis pub and the Apollo nightspot in Skinner Street, said a combination of energy costs, rising wage bills, business rates and tax increases were making it increasingly difficult for hospitality businesses to survive.

Richard Parker, the elected mayor for the West Midlands, has yet to declare whether he will be taking up the option, but previously expressed support for the idea in principle.

Mr Keasey said the Government’s increase in employer National Insurance contributions had hit the labour-intensive hospitality industry particularly hard, making it much more expensive to employ people, particularly part-time staff.

“And now, just when you think there surely cannot be another tax to dream up, the Government decides to give mayors the power to introduce a so-called tourist tax on overnight visitors,” he said.

Mr Keasey, who is also deputy leader of the opposition Reform group on Dudley Council, said UK unemployment now stood at 4.9 per cent while the number of employees on the payroll had fallen by 78,000 over the year to June.

“Small businesses aren't asking Government to run our businesses for us,” he said.

“We aren't asking to be protected from normal commercial competition. We are asking Government to give us a fighting chance.

“There seems to be an assumption that businesses can simply absorb every additional cost or pass it on to customers. We can't. Eventually the customer won't pay any more, the margin disappears, investment stops, hours are cut, recruitment stops and businesses close.

“Will this Government only be satisfied when British hospitality lies in ruins?”

He said the Government should be the custodian of the British economy, creating the conditions in which businesses could invest, expand and employ people.

“Instead of endlessly looking for another tax, another levy or another way of extracting money from businesses and consumers, ministers need to start looking seriously at Government expenditure and asking where savings and efficiencies can be made,” he said.

“You cannot tax an economy into growth. Britain needs its entrepreneurs, its family businesses, its pubs, restaurants, hotels, shops and independent operators.”