Hotel tax hiked aimed at offsetting state funding shortfall

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Hotel tax hiked aimed at offsetting state funding shortfall

POSTED: Thursday, November 29, 2012, 2:05 PM

Among the drastic budget cuts Harrisburg has sent down the turnpike to Philly in the past couple years, the reduction in funding for tourism marketing has been among the least remarked upon. Maybe that's because, despite deep cuts under Gov. Tom Corbett, both day visitation and overnight visits to Philly were, in 2011, at the highest they've been in the last 15 years, according to Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corp. statistics. Depite that success, Philly City Council could soon hike hotel-room taxes to pad the GPTMC budget going forward.

The reduction of state funding from $6.6 million in 2007 down to a projected $128,700 in 2012 means GPTMC's budget has been cut by more than a third in the past five years, despite significant gains in hotel tax revenues.

Although the state funding is likely to increase, Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown doesn't want to depend on that. She's looking to offset that by increasing the hotel tax rates to the state max, 1.5 percent, and introduced legislation today to that effect. The rate is currently set at 1.2 percent. That would bring the city's total hotel tax rate up to 15.5 percent, still less than New York's, L.A.'s or Chicago's.

(Image from GPTMC)

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