If only the money we paid…

By | Category: Travel rumblings
Money from cuise ships could fund local tourism initiatives so that money from passengers would go into the local economy


Against the Alaskan capital of Juneau a legal suit has been filed by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) claiming that the city has used the fees charged on cruise passengers to construct things that aren’t related to cruise passengers.

According to the local newspaper, the Juneau Empire, CLIA claims that “the city has used portions of those fees on projects that do not directly benefit cruise ship passengers and therefore violate federal restrictions on entry fee taxes.”

Wouldn’t it be interesting if we had a law over here that said that money raised by certain taxes could only be used in support of that industry which was taxed?

Roads would benefit from the vehicle tax that we pay but have no circular disc to put on our windscreens. Roads in rural areas that have no overtaking lanes could have them built enabling tourists and locals to get to parts of the country in minutes rather than the hours it sometimes take when you get caught behind caravans and tractors.

Airports and infrastructure around them would benefit from the billions raised by Air Passenger Duty so that trains ran from every airport giving passengers an opportunity of avoiding clogged and overused roads. Some of the money could even be spent on making sure that drop-off points in airports were just that and not excuses to rob our pockets even more.

Accommodation taxes that many European cities levy like Rome and Venice could be used to construct more tourist-friendly means of reaching them and enabling those with mobility issues to get closer. They could also be used to create a better and compulsory grading system of hotels.

We would still have general taxation and VAT to pay for defence and overseas aid, housing projects and maintenance and maybe they would even consider joined-up transport projects and making sure that many more rural areas had mains gas. National Insurance could pay for pensions (now, there’s a novel idea) instead of ending up in the chancellor’s account books and import duties could be ploughed back into supporting our industries rather than – one again – heading to the treasury’s coffers.

It’s nice to dream, and that’s all it will be. Maybe CLIA will win their case but can you imagine any European politician introducing such a rule over here? And getting it passed by the legislature?

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