Tourist tax up to 10 euros in Florence, Pisa, Rimini, Venice and Verbania
More tourists, 20 times higher than residents, and more funds for tourism. The amendment to the maneuver proposed by the Pd, approved in the Chamber and under consideration by the Senate, led to the levy of shields of hoteliers, Federalberghi, Confindustria Alberghi and Assoturismo Confesercenti, and the applause of the administrations of the big cities to which the measure is addressed. “Only 5 municipalities in reality” will benefit from it, explains the mayor of Novara, Alessandro Canelli, Anci delegate to local finance. «The provision, according to the required requirements, authorizes the increase only in Rimini, Venice, Verbania, Florence and Pisa. Well, but Anci asks that even smaller municipalities with a huge tourist flow, think of those on the coast in the summer, can intervene similarly ».
The text introduced in maneuver
It is paragraph 787 of article 1 of the 2023 Budget law that provides for the novelty. In article 4 of legislative decree number 23 of 14 March 2011, paragraph 1-bis is replaced by the following: « 1-bis. In the provincial capital municipalities which, according to the latest survey made available by the public administrations competent for the collection and processing of statistical data, have had tourist presences in numbers 20 times higher than that of residents, the referred to in this article may be applied up to the maximum amount referred to in article 14, paragraph 16, letter e), of decree-law 78/2010, converted, with amendments, by law 122/2010. The aforementioned municipalities must refer to the data published by Istat regarding the average tourist presence recorded in the three-year period preceding the year in which the tax increase is approved. For the three-year period 2023-2025, the average of tourist presences for the three-year period 2017-2019 is considered».
Who can set up the tax
A faculty therefore, limited to the capital cities, destined to impact only on the cities with the envisaged requisites, the five indicated to us by Anci, excluding Rome Capital which has a special tax with a maximum limit twice that of other Italian Municipalities. The provision refers to the current text of the aforementioned article 4 of legislative decree number 23 of 2011 which appoints the faculty to institute the tourist tax.
An ad hoc resolution of the municipal council is required, which establishes gradual criteria in proportion to the price of the hotel structure, currently up to 5 euros per night of stay. The related proceeds are intended to finance:
– interventions in the field of tourism, including those in support of accommodation facilities;
– maintenance, use and recovery of local cultural and environmental assets;
– related local public services.
The tourist tax can also replace, in whole or in part, any charges imposed on tourist buses for circulation and parking within the municipal territory.
The location of the hosts
Federalberghi did not like the possible increase in the tax, as mentioned, and according to President Bernabò Bocca «it should be replaced with a specific tax, using the funds to redevelop the hotel facilities, instead of allocating the proceeds to the budget of the Municipalities ending up in a meaningless cauldron». Marina Lalli, president of Federturismo Confindustria speaks of “a provision that in a phase of restarting tourism risks compromising the delicate recovery of destinations that were just raising their heads, of charging tourists with additional costs and hoteliers with bureaucracy”.
In a note, Confindustria Alberghi confirms that «the increase in the tourist tax weighs on a balance that is still difficult for the sector, caught between the appalling increase in costs, first and foremost that of energy, and the astronomical growth in the cost of mortgages taken out for resist the Covid crisis”.