Minister's thumbs down on bed tax
It's still a hard 'no' from the Coalition Government on any form of Queenstown Lakes bed tax.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis was again questioned on the potential for a local visitor levy, at yesterday's post-budget luncheon briefing to Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce members.
Willis says it is not something that has been even formally discussed by Cabinet, as none of the coalition parties, National, Act and New Zealand First, campaigned on the issue.
"It's simply that it's not in the coalition agreements or in the manifestos of any of the parties," Willis says. "So to progress that policy, we would need agreement from all three parties and the coalition and everyone around the Cabinet table."
"We just don't have a mandate for a bed tax at this time," she adds.
Willis says she recognises the interest from not just Queenstown but elsewhere in the country, especially given National's pre-election plan to "reshape the relationship" between central government and councils, to address the regional infrastructure deficit.
Instead the focus is on the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) and other funding mechanisms, including Act's policy to return some of the GST from new housing to the local authorities where they were consented.
The IVL raises roughly $80 million a year by charging tourists $35 at the border, although Australians and Pacific Islanders are exempt. It's spent on tourism infrastructure and conservation.
The Government is consulting on increasing the charge, to either $50, $70 or $100. It's also seeking feedback on how it's spent. Submissions close at 5pm on Tuesday, 11 June.
"We are consulting at the moment on how people want to see those funds used," Willis told Chamber members. "So we are interested in people's feedback on that. One of the things that comes through to me pretty regularly is that people look at our national parks, they look at the great experience that international tourists get from them, and they would like to see tourists contributing more to the upkeep of our conservation estate.
"So that's one area, for example, but we're very willing to hear your ideas about what that should look like as well."
She says there has been no talk of divvying up the IVL revenue directly to local authorities on a proportional basis, although that might be suggested in the consultation. The IVL funding is currently administered by the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
Arrowtown economist Benje Patterson highlighted to the Minister yesterday that one-in-three international tourists coming to NZ visit Queenstown, but don't contribute directly to the infrastructure they use. Queenstown Lakes District Council estimates a local visitor levy could raise as much as $30m a year, helping towards the costs of infrastructure, including three waters.
Willis was due to hold talks with Mayor Glyn Lewers yesterday afternoon, recognising Queenstown Lakes has "quite specific and different challenges to the rest of the country".
"There are multiple ways in which we can help local authorities dealing with the challenges of fast growth and of infrastructure needing to be built," she says.
"One of those is the policy that we've agreed to and our coalition agreement with Act, which is to share with local councils some of the proceeds of additional housing being built, giving them a share of income, to both incentivise and support them as they grow.
"And there are other ways that we can work with local government on infrastructure. You've seen our Land Transport Fund being used to support regional roading projects here in Queenstown. You'll also see us working on the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act to ensure that local authorities like Queenstown Council can access new ways of funding the infrastructure needed to support new subdivisions and new developments. So we are working on a broad range of tools for supporting local authorities to grow."
