Image courtesy of Images_of_Money
In 2013, Amsterdam's budget will be reduced by €71.5 million - the largest cut in Amsterdam history. As a result, the city council will be increasing visitor tax by 0.5 percent, bringing tourism tax to 5.5%. This will only affect visitors staying overnight.
The move comes from the city council's effort to keep the budget cuts from effecting local residents as much as possible, according to Lodewijk Asscher, the man in charge of the council's financial policy.
Asscher told local news station AT5 that most of the cuts would be happening within the council, a reorganization of which is expected to save €30 million.
But, tourists will be asked to dig a little deeper into their wallets.
However, Asscher says tourists shouldn't whine - after all, they get the Rijkmuseum and the Stedelijk in exchange, right? That's certainly worth it's weight in gold.
Perhaps no one's told Asscher that a large portion of the Rijksmuseum is closed off for the last 10 years and isn't set to fully open to the public until the spring of 2013. Not only that. but the Van Gogh museum - another popular tourist attraction - is closed for renovations for the next seven months. The Stedelijk only just reopened last week.
Some 1,500 jobs are also being cut in order to keep with the budget cuts. In addition, the schools and education budget will see substantial cuts as well as infrastructure and transportation.
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