|
Bailey says lodging tax bill goes too far
Chambers will now face competition for tourism
promotion dollars
After an attorney
general's opinion last year put in doubt whether chambers of commerce
could use "hotel-motel" taxes for tourism promotion,
Rep.
Barbara Bailey decided to clarify the issue through legislation.
Bailey introduced
House Bill 1254 that would have allowed chambers to continue to
receive a portion of the 2 percent lodging tax from cities and counties
for tourism efforts.
The House of
Representatives decided to forgo Bailey's legislation Thursday in favor
of
Senate Bill 5647. The measure would expand the use of the lodging
tax far beyond what was originally intended. Bailey urged lawmakers to
reject the proposal.
"This broadens the ability
for these lodging tax dollars to be spent in ways that were never
intended. It actually opens this up to many activities, festivals and
events that were not designed to bring outside visitors into
communities. Some of these would be festivals that are simply for that
community and not for tourism promotion," said Bailey, R-Oak Harbor.
"I'm most concerned that
this bill would allow for operational costs of these special events.
This would not be in direct promotion of tourism," added Bailey. "Even
worse, our chambers of commerce that have been doing a very good job of
tourism promotion will now have to compete with other entities in our
small communities for these very limited funds. This has the potential
to cripple local tourism promotion."
Bailey offered an
amendment to limit the use of the lodging tax to chambers of commerce
and nonprofit 501 (c)(6) organizations contracted for tourism promotion
by municipalities that collect the tax -- the same language as her bill.
The amendment was rejected.
"This is very
disappointing. It was never my intent to open up this revenue for other
entities to use for other purposes. This is a very specific tax on a
very specific industry to promote tourism efforts in a community. The
Senate bill will force our chambers of commerce to now compete for these
funds and that's very unfortunate," noted Bailey.
Senate Bill 5647 was
approved in the House, 73-25. It now goes back to the Senate for further
consideration.
# # #
For more information, contact:
John
Sattgast, Public Information Officer: (360) 786-7257
|