Minister of Regional Development and Digitalisation Linda Hofstad Helleland (Høyre/Conservative Party) believes the municipalities should take more active advantage of the opportunity to collect taxes from tourists.
During the questioning session in the Storting on Wednesday, Helleland confirmed that she is for municipalities to be able to impose a so-called visitor contribution on tourists.
“Today, the government is totally against a national tourist tax. But there is room for maneuvering locally for user fees related to, for example, parking, garbage or renovation. I think that the municipalities should use this to a greater extent,” Helleland told NTB.
She emphasizes that the government will not demand that the municipalities impose such taxes. But the districts minister is open to adjusting the regulations to make it more flexible.
“If a municipality wants it to secure infrastructure and welcome more tourists, then I as districts minister want to help them with the opportunity,” she says.
Astrid Bergmål, head of Virke Reiseliv, is pleased with the signals. She now urges the government parties to vote on a proposal SV (Socialist Left Party) has made in the Storting to investigate tourist tax.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
This is the dumbest idea in the history av vary lille land. Norway is very expensive anyway and our guests pay many taxes on all purchases. They bring currency and foreign money for us. This idiot ok grossly unqualified for the job and seriously, for the benifit of the land needs to be dismissed. We can do better than such selfish thinking