Lisbon Council has decided that tourists should pay more for Council services, such as cleaning and transport, and has decided to increase its ‘tourist tax’ by 100%.
The tax will go up on January 1st, 2019, from €1 to €2-a-night, but capped at seven nights, “to strengthen urban cleaning and transportation in areas with greater tourism pressure,” the Council has announced.
Left Bloc Councillor, Manuel Grilo, said that, "The revenue from this tourist tax will naturally be directed towards addressing, in particular, the issues of urban cleaning and transportation in areas where tourism has greater pressure, greater expression and, therefore, have greater problems in these areas."
In the original 2016 'tourist tax' agreement between the Socialist-led City Council and its Left Bloc, it was stated that the tax rate would be reevaluated for the year starting January 1, 2019.
The Algarve’s mayors have agreed to impose a similar tax across the region. Only Rosa Palma, the Silves mayor, disagreed and voted against the tax in a recent AMAL meeting.
Each of the Algarve’s Councils now has to discuss the tourist tax proposal at their Municipal Assemblies, with Lagoa Council already rumbling that the tax is unlikely to go ahead.
A patchwork of ‘some do, some don’t’ Algarve councils should to lead to confusion and inequality, a perfect reflection of local politics.
