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Travelling cash cow
By Malcolm Weatherup The heavily taxed tourism industry is in danger of being regarded simply as a cash cow, says Townsville Enterprise CEO Richard Power. Mr Power was commenting after calls for the Federal Government to scrap the $10 ticket levy imposed after the collapse of Ansett. He said there was a widespread belief in the industry that tourism carried a disproportionate tax burden. "While I agree with the user-pays principle, any tax or levy is a drag on the growth of tourism, particularly in distant destinations like North Queensland," Mr Power said. "A review of all taxes and charges is timely right now." A tourism taskforce has started a two-month research project to determine if industry is being unfairly targeted by the taxman. The $50,000 Tourism Taxes Research Project is being funded by an alliance of national tourism bodies. Queensland Tourism Industry Council CEO Daniel Gschwind said the situation had changed so rapidly that the industry needed to know exactly how big its tax burden was. "Unlike almost any other industry, we face a whole raft of separate levies and taxes," he said. "For example, a $210 air fare attracts what are called ticket taxes involving an airport charge, global security levy and insurance amounting to $26.20. "This is added to base fare, and only then is GST calculated, which adds another $23.62. "Then there is the $10 Ansett levy, making a total $269.82. That's 28 per cent on the base fare. "Travellers flying into Sydney pay a $3.70 Sydney airport noise levy, and if you are heading overseas, there is a $38 passenger movement charge (formerly called the departure tax)." Mr Gschwind offered two other examples. For people flying Townsville to Brisbane return, the cheapest fare on Thursday last week, for example, was a base of $190, but the $58.70 in taxes made the actual cost $248.70. The same trip made at short notice, with a base cost of $355, attracted a tax premium of $81.80, for an all-up charge of $436.80. The research team will look beyond just air fares and make a detailed survey of all other levies and taxes faced by different sectors of the tourism industry. The lobby group Tourism Task Force said
removing the $10 Ansett levy would help promote travel within Australia. |
