Scottish Greens Councillor, Blair Anderson, has put forward a motion to introduce a tourist tax "as soon as they can".
Mr Anderson believes the tax could raise tens of millions of pounds for Glasgow, and with an impossible budget situation, @glasgowgreens councillors believe there’s no time to waste.
Mr Anderson was quizzed on what the revenue would be spent on.
In a series of posts he said:
The legislation says money raised has to be spent on “developing, supporting or sustaining facilities or services which are substantially for or used by” visitors. The @glasgowgreens want the money spent on services which are also for residents, like parks, cleansing and culture.
This would also ease pressure on those budgets, and we would then want more money to be allocated to education and social care, which tourist tax money can’t be spent on directly.
Green MSPs tried to widen the scope in parliament but were outnumbered. There’s still an opportunity to get the money spent on local services, but some councils want to use the money to support private tourist businesses. Hopefully Glasgow cllrs agree to spend on services instead.
https://twitter.com/blairanderson35/status/1805955972608799047
