One of the rallying cries of the American Revolution was “taxation without representation.” While American colonialists took up arms against the world’s greatest military power in this cause, today’s Americans (and many others) often pay exorbitant taxes with nary a protest.
If you stay in a hotel, you are subject to a hotel/hospitality tax that can be 15 percent or more on the room charge. And this is on top of the sales tax and other fees that are tacked on. Suddenly, what seems like a good deal can become something very different.
These fees and taxes were originally intended (so said their advocates) as a way to support a city’s tourism industry. But legislators soon realized that they could tax visitors and the visitors had no voice in the matter.
When legislators raise taxes on the local, the law makers are subject to complaints and possibly being voted out of office. But if they rape and pillage people who live elsewhere, that is not a threat. And so, they rape and pillage others. Legislators can fatten the city’s coffers at the expense of those who can’t do them political harm. It’s a win-win for the legislators and a total loss for the out-of-town traveler. It is taxation without representation.
Cities across the country compete to attract conventions, tourists, and other visitors. And then they tax those visitors for the privilege. It is a perverse logic that is ultimately self-destructive.
If cities truly want to compete to attract visitors, they should consider a different model. They should make it more affordable to visit their city, and that means reducing/eliminating taxation without representation.