Fury as footie fans face £330k ‘holiday tax’ bill each week for following their teams away

FOOTBALL supporters going to away games may have to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in Holiday Tax per week, hospitality chiefs say. The levy could have meant fans at eight recent night fixtures having to fork out an extra £328,000 in total, with some paying £15 more each, analysis suggests. Football fans going to away games may have to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in Holiday Tax per week Credit: Getty New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ramped up the tourist tax plans Credit: Getty Images Andy Burnham says mayors will be able to slap a tax — likely to be five per cent — on hotel and other overnight stays. Research for the Stop the Holiday Tax campaign looked at the impact of a five per cent levy on the eight Carabao Cup third round games that involved journeys of more than 150 miles. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! The analysis with UKHospitality assumed all 30,000-plus away tickets were sold and that each supporter paid for a night of accommodation. UKHospitality boss Allen Simpson said: “Following your team around the country is already an expensive business, and the Holiday Tax would represent yet another expense for fans. “Eight fixtures, one round, one competition, and the bill for supporters comes to £328,460. Adding a new tax to make it even more expensive for fans to follow their club is plain wrong. “Fans travelling 300 miles on a Tuesday night to watch their team are the domestic visitors the Government says it wants to encourage — this tax treats them as a source of revenue instead.” Spurs fans going to Liverpool on Tuesday would have faced the biggest potential hit — an estimated extra total cost of £80,000. Leeds supporters at Chelsea would have had the steepest extra outlay per person at £15.20. Most read in Sport Comment now