Nations were amazed to find out that United States Customs and Border Safety hopes to enact a vacationer tax, specially the European Union. The vacationer levy makes a $14 “operational and travel promotion” fee required. This is only for entering the U.S. from one of 36 different nations. The only exception to the rule of those who pay are travelers with U.S. visas. Yahoo! News explains this.
EU thinks tourist tax is ‘inconsistent with facilitating transatlantic mobility’
The European Union has been very open in its opposition to the United States’ newly instituted tourist tax masquerading as an operational and travel promotion fee. the fee will be paid by visitors, whether flying or coming by sea. There are numerous nations involved including Australia, Germany, France, Japan and also the United Kingdom. Homeland security explained what the traveler tax is going to be going towards. The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) was free, although now it can be paid for with this levy. The system is meant to check foreign tourists against no fly lists. The New York Times reports that travelers are now required to have Internet access and a credit or debit card so they can go via the ESTA program and pay the vacationer levy. The ESTA may deny people in which case they have to pay for something else. A non-immigrant visa can be what is needed for these people. There is one shady part of this. ESTA does not have to tell applicants why they didn’t get in.
Paying all the tourist dollars
The travel promotion fee only costs $10, says Homeland Security. $4 extra is paid for administration costs that are there. It is usually ok if the applicant submits the ESTA application before traveling. ESTA authorization means one can travel to the United States many times in a two-year period unless the Homeland Security decides the traveler needs to reapply or the visa expires. CBP.gov is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s website which is where you can find the traveler levy, or “operational and travel promotion fee” info.
Additional reading
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/national/08062010_2.xml
Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com/s/ynewspoint/20100907/ts_ynewspoint/ynewspoint_ts3556
