Legislative Report
VACVB will be updating members on upcoming legistlative issues here.
October-November- Be on the lookout for a report done by the VHTA about the economic impact on tourism of allowing more school systems to start school before Labor Day.
Tracking Hotel Issues
October 26, 2010- Online Travel Company (OTC) Tax Bill Draft Study by Virginia Dept. of Taxation- SB 452 (Whipple)
There were a number of comments made by the bill sponsors and advocates in response to this report. The major issue proponents of SB452 would like to highlight is the lack of transparency to the customer, hotel, and the locality. Other comments to the study include:
- Revisions to the description of current practices were suggested, including the lack of clarity on what portion of the hotel fee taxes are collected
- New York's similar legislation went into effect this September
- Taxes are already being collected, or should be collected, and remitted so there is no extra work, just more tax to remit
- The nexus issue (where taxes are collected) has never been a major obstacle to collecting taxes because the OTCs are already collecting taxes
