The operators of holiday-let houses and the tourists that visit them should be the ones helping to pay for local infrastructure not local residents, according to a petition being circulated by Byron Labor.
The political group is accusing the Greens Party of pushing for a 60 per cent rate rise instead of looking at other options.
Byron Labor acting secretary Asren Pugh said the proposed rate rise was a lazy and unimaginative response from council leadership ‘and it’s just not good enough’.
‘We have had over 12 years of a Greens Party-led council and our local infrastructure is crumbling, our roads are a mess and the only solution that our Mayor can come up with is a 60 per cent rate rise for local residents” Mr Pugh said.
‘Nearly 30 per cent of council expenditure is spent on looking after tourists. It’s time to make them pay, not slug residents with a massive new bill.
‘The council should be looking at all other options before raising residential rates. Byron Labor has called for the businesses that benefit from tourists to bear the burden of any increased rate rise.
‘We already have the lowest business rates in the region with businesses in places like the Lismore CBD paying double Byrons business rate. The millionaire commercial landlords of Byron Bay can afford to contribute a little more.
‘We also have up to an estimated 1000 holiday let houses across the shire that are taking housing from local people and profiting from tourists.
‘These properties should be helping fund our local infrastructure and they should pay the increased business rates. If a property is holiday let and AirBnb for over 3 months of the year, it is a business, not residential.
‘This would act as a defacto bed tax and mean local accommodation providers are paying something to support the tourists they profit from.
There are other opportunities that should be looked at by council, such as increasing parking fees, particularly at popular tourist hotspots like Main Beach and Wategoes, that would take the pressure off local residents.
Residents can go to www.bit.ly/StopTheRateRise to sign the petition. It will delivered before the next council meeting on February the 2nd 2017.
More and more people are telling me, that it is a good idea to wait for 12 months with a Special Rate variation proposal, in order to look at the facts and processes afresh, giving everyone a chance to evaluate the changes planned to the NSW rating system and to look at alternative revenue streams, again, this time with vigour. We will not go broke or being amalgamated during this time!
I have written a substantive critique about the weaknesses of the current proposal and sent it as a submission to the Council. Currently I am holding my breath, waiting to hear back from Council or Councillors. Happy to share with interested parties, as I am “only” a letter writer to the editor and not an “influencer”.
Jens,
The influencers pick themselves as they are the ones that go to the front as they know they will have an affective portrayal of influence. You are an influencer. The others who are not, go behind and follow.
The petition only to calls for not rising rates by 12.5% for 4 years compound. It leaves the door open for the other two options on offer. I have checked with the originator. So be beware, what you are signing.
If the Byron Residents could agree and come together to lobby the State government on allowing the BSC to introduce a tourist tax (call it whatever you like) this would raise some funds for our council.
Here is some good advice from Duncan Dey (the Echo Jan 11th 2017) …”a bed tax. Council should pursue that until their knuckles are worn off. There is also an alternative to bed tax, which is to try to increase rates for businesses involved in tourism.”
Holiday lets and the many Airbnb’s should pay commercial rates. Thats where council should get funds from not from their core residents!
The GM of Byron council has chosen 3 strategies out of a million to raise more money to cover the overspends on the Cavenbah sports centre (6.5m), the council offices and countless law cases.
The sad option to raise money by raising rates is the one most lacking in vision and imagination.
Taxing the commercial real estate barons of Byron, it adding a bed tax for tourists are better options, but why not use the shires assets to generate more income and create more jobs, and pleasure for locals for the same time.
For instance, at present Byron Council chooses by default to use the most outstanding piece of real estate that they own with ocean views and walkIng distance to the CBD to a …….. car park. Yes the finest views in the shire are given to CARS!
In a shire strapped for cash this is insanity.
The main beach car park is a resource that could be enjoyed by all and it would also fill the shire coffers with enough to repair all the roads that do desperately need attention.
I am suggesting that the car park be turned into a three storey building that has cheap market style food places on the bottom floor, more middle of the road restaurants on the second floor and a deluxe restaurant on the top floor. We the residents of Byron could actually enjoy our coastline while having a note and a drink, as do coastal residents in other countries around the world. The council would own a building that would generate high income from now until eternity, and we can avoid an unnecessary hike in rates.
A tax on tourists and tourist operators is just a form of goods and services tax. This country greatly simplified sales taxes under Howard introducing a GST that much more fairly means people pay tax on most of their goods and services. Labor and their left wing supporters , including the Greens , demand ever greater public spending, and some of that is certainly needed if we want a fairer society with health and opportunity for all. But even though Australian workers are lightly taxed and among the highest paid in the world, the left refuses to increase the GST and objects to increased rates, and as a cop-out from facing that reality of increasing existing taxes use the “tax millionaires” mantra – punishing people who have saved money instead of squandering it on our lightly taxed goods and services. Introducing taxes on tourism would set a precedent for other special taxes and would turn our simplified and fair GST back into the plethora of uneven taxes that existed before. By all means ensure B&B operators pay the correct rates for a commercial properties, but forget about complicating our G & S arrangements to try to get other people to pay your rates.
Are you for real, you think we are under taxed and over paid have you ever tried to rent a house there are a group of land owners in this shire who have reaped millions out of this shire and its time they paid a bit back ,I dont think you are even on the right page all GST taxes go to federal gov not to fix our roads..