Doubts cast over bed tax

EDINBURGH’s plans for a tourist tax have been thrown into doubt after the Scottish Government said it had no plans to change the law to allow the scheme.

The city council would almost certainly need permission from the government to introduce the new tax on hotels to help pay for marketing of the city and contribute to the cost of the festivals.

But the government said tourism businesses already paid high taxes. A spokeswoman said: “We have yet to see proposals from Edinburgh City Council, but there are no current plans to introduce legislation to allow local authorities to levy a tourism tax.”