It seems that taxes on travelers are getting a bit out of hand. Anyone who has recently rented a car has had the experience of seeing a great daily rental price inflated by whopping taxes. Hotel taxes keep going up and localities are searching for more ways to squeeze travelers with new taxes and fees.
Wasn’t one of the rallying calls of the American Revolution that we every year on the 4th of July, “No taxation without representation”? Tourism taxes are exactly that.
Tourism providers are fighting back and the Travel Tax Fairness Act is working its way through congress.
The Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act would create a federal standard in this vital area of interstate commerce by:
1) Protecting all existing local hotel occupancy taxes,
2) Allowing states to tax the fees charged by travel intermediaries like travel agents and online travel companies,
3) Preventing the nation’s 7,000 local tax authorities from creating conflicting and contradictory tax policies in this area, and
4) Ending new litigation on the issue, while allowing ongoing cases to proceed.
In addition to working with Congress through its staff and committee, several organizations are starting an education outreach program to
• New and higher tourism taxes on hotels, airlines, car rentals, and travel intermediaries
• Inconsistent state and local tax regulations that can lead to higher costs and less service
• Lack of transparency and/or access to ancillary airline fees
• Local tourism regulations that make travel more difficult or expensive for visitors
• Other pro-consumer travel policies to reduce costs and improve the travel experience
Basically, this effort is an attempt to set some national standards on travel and tourism taxes and fees. Everything from airline fees and hotel taxes to local rental car charges are under the microscope.
We will keep our readers on top of developments as this bill moves through Congress.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
