Lodging tax "hike" is wrong path to take
The current proposal to raise Maine's lodging tax from 7% to 10% would be laughable, if it weren't so sad.
Yes, supporters say, it's all in the interest of helping to "preserve the state's scenic lands, downtowns, farms, forests and waterfronts, and improve access to hunting, fishing and boating areas."
Laudable goals, certainly, but more taxes aren't the way to go about achieving them.
This measure is another in a long series of misguided ideas meant to sock it to the rich, stick it to the business community, soak the tourists "from away," and anybody else with a pulse who can be taxed.
Brilliant! And oh so lacking in creativity.
I wonder if the proponents of this latest tax hike--cutely touted as part of "comprehensive tax reform"--have taken the time to even read their own words to see how little sense they make when strung together.
The tax is "part of a strategy to make Maine more attractive to tourists" and will "help the state to achieve long-term prosperity."
Oh really.
So raising taxes on tourist lodging--that'll mean everything from hotel and motel rooms to campgrounds and God knows whatever else--will help Maine achieve prosperity.
Who do you think you're fooling?
Are we dumb enough to think that visitors don't factor in the potential cost of their vacation when planning, and choose among the more affordable?
Hello! Of course they do.
Think people aren't sensitive to things that have bearing on their traveling, like say, gas prices that are hovering around $3 a gallon?
Think again. Money matters.
Same thing applies to the lodging tax. People get it, even tourists. But then, the legislature seems to have a perennial difficulty grasping that private citizens actually have to manage their budget, whereas Augusta doesn't.
So what do we want to do?
Raise prices through raising taxes on visitors, and by the way, the rest of us resident shmucks who live here and stay at motels and campgrounds. And then hope that nobody notices. Or cares.
And further, we expect that even more people will visit Maine because they want donate more of their hard earned money to Maine's tax coffers, because, well, just because.
Yeah, right.
Some "strategy" folks.
Marketing gurus you ain't. Give it up.
Maine's reputation for high taxes is widely known beyond the Piscataqua River bridge. Don't go making things worse for our tourism industry.
I'm all for preserving our natural beauty, our forests and farmlands; access to boating and hunting and fishing areas and the like.
But must tax hikes be part of the deal? Again and again?
Is spending reform a possibility? Reducing waste? Collecting the millions in tax dollars already owed to the state that have gone uncollected?
"Quality makes a difference," said Portland legislator Glenn Cummings. "We have the most spectacular place in the world."
Indeed we do.
Let's see some "quality" products come out of Augusta that don't include the word "tax." Unless, of course, you mean to lower them.
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