Lodging Tax essays

Lodging Tax essays Lodging tax would help sell Oregon to world Oregons tourism commission has established a plan to get the industry to reach new levels of success by trying to pass the first statewide tax. House Bill 2267 will allow a one percent tax on all lodging in Oregon, thus bringing in over $7 million dollars, doubling the budget the tourism commission has to work with. The industry wants to spend millions on advertising Oregons many beauties. This tax would start to move Oregons economy back in the right direction, more job availability, and bring in a much-needed income through tourists. It would hopefully get a better reputation for a place to do business. But the industry does not have the means to extend a welcoming to those people. Tourism is one of three main components Governor Ted Kolongoskis economic plan consists of along with legislative leaders who have included it as one of their top priorities. Most local government supporters say that House Bill 2267 has one major mistake. It would prohibit cities and counties from adopting or even increasing their own lodging taxes unless the money is directly used to promote tourism. This money is crucial to help pay for all sorts of things such as maintaining parks and other facilities that see more people when tourism is at a high. Only 80 cities out of the 238 in Oregon have already adopted lodging tax, so the other cities would miss out on this if the bill passed. Motel and hotel owners fear the tax will decrease their revenue because they will have to increase room rates. The lodging tax was supposed to help with promoting Oregon but when cities have a budget crunch those funds are the first ones to get tapped into. The budget of 2001-2003 for the tourism industry ranks 46th among states, with $6 million dollars, mostly financed by Oregon lottery. $1.7 million of that is used for advertising, which consists of a dozen adds in U....