Hotels balk at tax that pays to build the competition
I’m actually kind of surprised that this doesn’t come up more often: According to the Erie Times-News (Pa.):
A group of Erie County hoteliers filed a lawsuit Tuesday that challenges the
legality of the county’s 5 percent hotel-room tax.The hoteliers questioned the constitutionality of a tax they say they must
collect to help pay for the proposed convention center hotel."The existing hotels have been unfairly burdened with a tax that is being
used to fund a competing new, publicly owned and subsidized hotel," the lawsuit
said.
The rationale on the other side is, of course, that the new HQ hotel will bring in more business for everyone, that a rising tide will raise all the boats, not just the Queen Mary. Interesting…
Related Topics: Hospitality news
June 10th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
The story didn’t point out that one of the hotels, the Erie Avalon, has received millions in grants and tax breaks.Nor does it mention that the owner of 8 Erie hotels, Nick Scott, was all for this tax and the new hotel until he asked for millions more in subsidies and tax breaks that is currently being proposed.
Leave a Comment