Taxing disappointment in Rome

I’m just back from the great rugby disappointment in Rome and the equally disappointing torrential rain which put more than a dampener on the sightseeing.

But like the other 15,000 Scottish supporters we dutifully stumped up the tourist tax when checking out.

Charged on a sliding scale between €4 and €10 depending on hotel star rating, our three-night stay for four cost an extra €90. It’s just the way it is.

It’s supposed to support tourist services like info points and fund the city’s infrastructure, but what we found was litter-strewn, graffiti-daubed streets which made Edinburgh look as clean as an operating theatre. And hucksters everywhere.

Against that background the positive response to Edinburgh’s planned tourist tax is unsurprising. It looks like free money to locals who are used to paying it on their own city breaks, and no-one ever decided they weren’t going to Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona or wherever just because of the local levy.

Now the Scottish Government appears to be softening on the rules as the legislation goes to its final stage, the deal for turning hoteliers into tax-gatherers must be that it makes a demonstrable difference, not just disappear into the vortex of council bureaucracy or clawed back by tinkering with the block grant.

The big chains will just put a system in place to manage it like any other cost, but it’s a significant imposition for small operators.

And if I was a Roman hotelier I’d be mighty mozzarella-ed off if the shabby street environment was my reward. Edinburgh needs to do better.