Adrian Wood’s letter (“How Reeves can raise cash for short-term problems”, July 19) made a number of points about hypothecated taxation being a way forward to deal with demands on additional public expenditure facing the incoming Labour government. There is, we suggest, one such tax that would have no cost to the taxpayer, but would benefit our museums, art galleries and other cultural and scientific institutions enormously.
This country, unlike most countries in the world, has universal free entry to its national museums and galleries. Some years ago we proposed a tourist tax to reflect that fact, and to ensure a source of additional funding for all such free-entry museums, galleries and libraries. The tax would be a nightly charge levied by hotels and Airbnb rentals on all visiting non-UK residents.
Simultaneously it would publicise to tourists the wealth and diversity of free-entry museums — well over 100 in Greater London alone ranging from the Anaesthesia Heritage Centre and the British Museum to the V&A and the Grant Museum of Zoology.
Such a tourist tax, a modest £1 per night per visitor, was recently introduced in Manchester, and in its first year raised £2.8mn. Before the pandemic we piloted such a scheme in some of London’s hotels, with the blessing of Boris Johnson, when mayor of London, and with the support of many of London’s best-known free-entry arts and cultural institutions. The pilot was successful, but unfortunately because of the Covid pandemic and its subsequent effect on the hospitality industry, further work on it was postponed. Now is surely the right time, given the recent arts and cultural spending cuts around the country.
Nicolas Kent
Charles Martin
Charles Rifkind
Directors, The Visitors’ Art Foundation
London NW8, UK
