OVERVIEW

Most major travel products and services (accommodations, air travel, car rentals, restaurant meals, etc.) are taxed by some level of government, with most taxes being levied by local and state governments.  Over the past few decades, the taxes and fees applied to accommodations and car rentals in particular have risen as local and state governments have reached into travelers’ pockets to balance budgets or pay for local priorities. 

U.S. TRAVEL POSITION

U.S. Travel is opposed to discriminatory taxes on the traveling public, and has long held that any tax increases on travel should be modest and the revenue raised be reinvested directly into programs and services that benefit the payer – the traveler.  Hotel tax rates in many communities are already in the double digits, and car rental taxes in many locations exceed 20 percent.  Travelers are already paying more than their fare share of taxes.  While local and state officials believe it is easy to “export” new taxes onto visitors since they are not constituents, most of these same communities depend on business travelers, convention delegates and leisure visitors for their economic livelihood.  We encourage state and local officials to craft tax policies that are growth-oriented, and work to promote even higher levels of visitation to states and local destinations.