With sluggish hotel tax revenues in Westmoreland County, officials said Wednesday that they will consider extending the levy to include rooms rented via online booking agents such as Airbnb.
The county since 2003 has assessed the room tax on motels, hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts.
“No one should be getting free ride, but we need to be cautious,” said Treasurer Jared Squires, whose office is responsible for collecting the daily 3 percent hotel tax on rental units.
Allegheny County officials showed caution this week when they delayed a vote on extending the hotel tax to include services such as Airbnb that book short-term rentals for private home owners. Officials there said they want to be certain the proposal's language defining short-term booking agents is clear before approving the measure.
The hotel tax in Westmoreland County last year generated $1.26 million. While those collections are up from previous years, proceeds from the tax have had only meager increases since 2010 when it raised $975,000.
Hotel tax revenue generated $1 million in 2011, $1.15 million in 2012 and 2013, and $1.24 million in 2014.
Read more @ http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/10114241-74/tax-hotel-county
No comments:
Post a Comment