The history behind this proposal tells it all: which other industry gets its advertising paid by taxes?
Maybe we should also take some of the local sales tax and give it to local businesses so that they also can pay for advertising? In addition, which city budget is defined and funded in perpetuity unless repealed?
Since the inception of lodgers tax, lodging rates have increased, and because the current tax is a percentage, those tax revenues have increased accordingly. However, nobody has showed how much has been collected over the years, how those annual sums have increased and how those funds were spent.
In addition to the structural irony of this proposal, there is the issue of how the proposed tax is to be spent.
If the increase revenue would have been used to fund a homeless solution, benefiting everyone including our visitors, that may have been a reason to consider the merits of the increase, but with self-interest advertising (which most residents do not want to see increase) this is a ridiculous money grab.
The new total rate of 13.65% is a complete joke. Consider that our visitors first have to earn money, pay federal, state and local taxes before visiting Durango – which then grabs another chunk.
Please, let us all be mindful of what we are doing and vote “No” on this proposal.
Our newly elected City Council members can then review and re-address the issue.
Thomas EgolfDurangoEditor’s note: The 13.54% the author references represents the sum of existing sales tax and the proposed new lodgers tax.
