Visitor tax starting to bite

The growth of short term residential lettings, either a gite or Airbnb, is a concern apparently to the bigger organisations such as hotels. They claim that owners of such short term premises compete unfairly as they don't have the same standards to meet, do not pay business rates and often do not pay tax on their earnings.
Having the "stay" tax now charged by internet letting companies such as Homeaway or Airbnb means owners no longer need to account for it, but the bureaucracy of registering and making monthly reports for other sources remains. In Tarn and Garonne the nightly rate is fixed at 5% (not a straight percentage of the gross rental, there are "chargeable" and "exempt" guests) and other areas have other rates.
The rates charged include the tax which is paid by the guests, but remitted by the owner or manager. The amounts are supposed to fund the tourism infrastructure which will attract and improve the stay of visitors to the area. As a gite owner we can appreciate that big cities or resorts may see the competition as unfair, but given the absolute dearth of decent hotel accommodation in this part of the world we are actually only competing with other gite owners.
The stay tax is in addition to the tax fonciere and habitation and in most cases the income tax we pay on the letting income. Maintaining our properties is not cheap and wages for cleaners, gardeners and managers can be substantial. Mostly we are private owners wanting a bit of income from our property and not extra bureaucratic paper work (sorry, internet work).
Where is my gilet jaune!

We are at risk from chasseurs

Hunting with guns is part of the countryside culture of France and we are used to seeing the "chasse en cours" signs warning us that the hunters are about with their guns and dogs. There have been several fatal injuries this season, and one MP called for a ban on VTT cycling in the hunting season after a cyclist was shot and killed in the Alps. To the contrary there is an increasing call to ban hunting on Sunday to protect walkers and others enjoying the country and woods. But last week a father playing in his home with his children was shocked when a bullet smashed through the window.
A hunter taking part in a sanglier battue had fired the shot, in contravention of the rules banning shooting near to houses.
Despite the entrenched rights of the chasseurs, many readers of Taglines consider that the rights of the general public not to have their lives unnecessarily endangered is paramount.

Toulouse Swedish footballer abused

Photo Maximilian Haupt/MaxPPP

Jimmy Durmaz is a midfield footballer who plays for TFC (Toulouse Football Club) and represents Sweden, who will meet England on Saturday in the World Cup. He is of Turkish origin but born in Sweden. He committed a foul which led to Germany scoring a last minute winner against Sweden in the pool matches. This has resulted in a torrent of racial abuse on the internet, as if his racial origin had caused the team's defeat. This is not the first time Durmaz has been abused by the racists, as he visited refugee camps in Greece when he played there.
The Swedish team has rallied round, emphasising that they are all Swedish and that racism has no place in sport.
Other people in public life are subject to horrible racist abuse whenever they do or say anything that the racists do not agree with, regardless of the context. Abhorrent language, physical threats, blatant lies are all part of the keyboard racists armoury. Jimmy Durmaz and his team mates in the Swedish team take a united stand against these morons, and more power to them (except on Saturday at 4pm).
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Do we really appreciate how much we need Europe?

I hear the odd person who lives here talking about the benefits of anti European Nigel Farage and I really wonder how little those people must appreciate the benefits we have from Europe. I think if we withdrew from the European community our lives here would become extremely difficult. Many of us have now invested our lives and our money in property here and without being Europeans we would lose  importantly health benefits and imagine that with our aging ex pat population. Please never praise the benefits of Nigel Farage in my presence I will not be able to listen, and would wonder about your sanity. He goes on about immigrants in the UK and if you agree with him what are you doing being an immigrant in France?
Before I read through this I had written " Nigel Lafarge" Lafarge being the cement company who used to be in Varen. Fortunately I spotted it before posting
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Malc says : the auto-correct had it as Nigel Farrago - smart these things!