Friday, April 23, 2010

Tourism Has Become a Taxing Issue

Tourism employs something like 140,000 people in our state, including many in the lodging industry. A tax measure pending before the state legislature would give us a hotel tax higher than Manhattan’s. Doing business in this state is costly enough already. What do you think?

Our state is blessed with an abundance of attractions that draws millions each year. They leave with memories and they leave behind money spent on a range of things, starting with their lodgings. As a state we are faced with a lot of taxing issues, one of them being a proposal to increase the hotel tax from 12 to 15 percent. An objective person could say we are taxing ourselves out of the competitive arena.

To some, a three percent increase might seem small, but what about the conference and convention business that has been growing in recent years? That kind of increase, multiplied by hundreds of rooms adds up fast.

Even the increase for a single room spread over a few days or a week means that the guests will have less money available to spend elsewhere during their visit.

In a recent editorial, The Day opined that tourism is a major economic lifeblood in the Northeast. We agree. Let’s keep it that way by not taxing away the businesses that cater to the tourists who make it so.


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