On Friday, the Lisbon City Council will discuss the proposal to increase the tourist tax on overnight stays from two to four euros per night, after public consultation, with the intention that it will come into force “as of September 1st”.
After the end of the public consultation period on this proposal by the PSD/CDS leadership, the council will consider the final document in a private meeting and then, if approved, it will be submitted to the municipal assembly.
The proposal submitted for public consultation, for a period of 30 days, remains unchanged with regard to the idea of increasing the tourist tax on overnight stays from two to four euros per guest per night.
The document also includes an update of the tourist tax for arrivals by sea, from one to two euros per passenger, although the amount that is now being proposed is the one that began to be applied this year, when this tax began to be charged to cruise passengers.
According to the proposal to which Lusa has had access, the council wants “the Municipal Tourist Tax for Overnight stays to come into force on September 1 and the Municipal Tourist Tax for Arrivals by Sea on the day following the publication of the amendment to the Regulations in the Diário da República”.
On April 17, the municipal executive approved the PSD/CDS-PP proposal to submit these changes to public consultation, with the PCP abstaining and the remaining councillors voting in favor, namely the proponents, PS, Livre, Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition) and BE, according to a source from the municipality.
Regarding the discussion of the final document on Friday, the PS warned that the tourist tax “cannot serve to patch up the municipality’s accounts”, demanding that the PSD/CDS leadership clarify the “destination of the additional 40 million euros” resulting from the proposed increase.
“As in the past, we need a plan that minimizes the impact of tourism on the city, reinforcing the funds earmarked for urban hygiene, monitoring local accommodation and the noise law, more investment in Carris, and relieving the pressure on Lisbon’s overburdened areas,” argue the PS councillors.
The Socialists also point out that the increase in the tourist tax represents an evolution in the position of the mayor, Carlos Moedas (PSD), because “he campaigned for it to be halved and ends up doubling the amount”.
Confronted with this change of position, since in May 2021, as a candidate for mayor of Lisbon, at a time of economic recovery following the covid-19 pandemic, he admitted to reducing the tourist tax, Carlos Moedas defended himself: “I was true to what I said. I analyzed the issue very carefully. At the time, we were coming out of the Covid crisis with major economic impacts. Today, the reality is different, with other cities charging a very high tourist tax compared to ours.”
As part of the proposal to increase the amount, the PS council accuses the PSD/CDS of having refused, over the last three months, to clarify the destination of the revenue from the tourist tax.
“The PS supports the new value of the tourist tax, but demands that this point be clarified, even more so when there is a risk that this increase is intended to compensate for the increasingly notorious cash flow and liquidity problems of the municipality,” the Socialists point out, recalling that “in the first six months of this year alone” the Lisbon City Council took out two loans worth 133 million and for which it agreed to pay an additional 43 million in interest.
