“Tourist tax” for Edinburgh gets the backing of Scottish Greens
A Green party MSP has stated that an Edinburgh-style “tourist tax” would be valuable for Glasgow.
Patrick Harvie said: “Last week’s Green budget deal included agreement on giving councils the power to introduce a tourist levy if they want to do so.
“It’s entirely appropriate that councils get to decide what’s right for their area.
“Glasgow first looked at the idea of a tourist levy a few years ago and councilors gave it their backing earlier this year.
“Clearly the city benefits from tourists but also faces considerable costs to maintain its many free museums and attractions, so the tourist levy is an important opportunity to invest in the city’s assets.”
A council spokesperson said: “At this moment in time there’s nothing brought forward to committee so it’s certainly not something coming in immediately.
“But I’m not going to rule it out if it was to come to the committee in future.”
By Tom Jarvis
