THOMAS TURRELL CALLS ON MAYOR OF LONDON TO EXEMPT CHILDREN AND VOLUNTEERS FROM TOURISM TAX

Thomas Turrell AM has today written to the Mayor of London calling on Sir Sadiq Khan to exempt under-18s and voluntary groups from paying the tourist tax, amid fears that groups such as the Scouts may be crushed under tax bureaucracy. 

Concerns have been raised that scout troops and other voluntary groups such as the Duke of Edinburgh in London will have to pay the levy for every scout that attends trips, including organisers, and require those organising to not only handle this additional cost but administer it also. 

Mr Turrell’s letter raises concerns that, as it stands, there is a 3,500-long waiting list to join scouting groups in London being as there are too few volunteers. These punitive taxes risk exacerbating this further and denying children access to the opportunities that voluntary groups like the Scouts provide. 

The Welsh Government has already said it intends to exempt under-18s, but will retain the tax on the volunteers taking them - Mr Turrell argues that London should go further and exempt both parties, so as to prevent any unnecessary additional costs being heaped on already-fraught proceedings. 

In a statement, Thomas Turrell AM, Conservative Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley, said:

“Groups like the Scouts can be formative for young people in helping to build confidence, skills, and friendships. The idea that bureaucratic red tape and one-size-fits-all taxes could threaten that and make camps and trips unviable is the opposite of what policymakers should be seeking to achieve. I am calling on the Mayor of London to use the powers the Government has given him to exempt under-18s and those running voluntary groups, so that these opportunities remain affordable and accessible for our young people. We must not let an oversight deprive young people of opportunities.”