A proposal to introduce some kind of ‘tourist tax’ to help fund public toilets and litter clearance drew a spirited response from readers.
Tom Hayward argued: ‘An issue with taxing tourists is that as one of only 4 EU states that charge full VAT on tourism and hospitality, others charge from as low as 3%, effectively we already have that because of this. How would you prove what litter was from a tourist and which was from locals, especially near roadsides?’
Willie MacDonald said: ‘Seems like a sensible idea so long as there is a mechanism which makes sure the monies raised are spent in the local area.’