HB 699

Florida’s hospitality industry is facing increased taxation in HB 699, a bill whose next stop in the Florida Legislature is a full vote on the House of Representatives floor.

 

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, together with the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, the Florida Keys Lodging Association, the Key West Innkeepers Association and the Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, need your help to oppose an expansion of the hotel bed tax as proposed in an amendment added to HB 699, related to affordable housing.  The most recent version of this bill includes a provision that calls for existing and new hotel bed taxes in Monroe County to go towards affordable housing programs.

 

This proposed expansion does not require local voter approval to either expand the tax or raise it further, so it is even more important that members get involved in fighting this bill in the Legislature

 

FRLA is urging members to fight this increased burden on the hospitality industry by contacting your local state representatives and senators. Below are important points about this bill and its effects on the industry. Please feel free to use this information in a letter or phone call to your Legislators.

 

·      Today, the hospitality industry provides Florida more than $4 billion general revenue taxes and more than $551 million in local revenue to counties in bed taxes (House Trade & Tourism Committee Interim Report, 2007). The industry employs nearly one million citizens making it Florida’s largest economic driver. Now is not the time to tax this industry further.

 

·      Since 1967, the hospitality industry has provided additional local general revenue through a tax on guests.  The original intent of the so-called “bed tax” was for marketing and promotion of local tourism. Unfortunately, that definition has expanded and counties have pushed the use of this tax to unrelated programs including parks, convention centers, arts and cultural projects, sports stadiums, museums, beach projects, police, lifeguards and even road races.  

 

·      On April 14, the House Policy & Budget Council adopted an expansion of the bed tax to include affordable housing in Monroe County despite opposition from FRLA. While FRLA appreciates the challenges of affordable housing, it does not agree that one industry should carry the financial burden of solving this problem.  

 

·      This provision will increase the cost of tourism, further harming an industry that already operates on small margins, higher minimum wage costs and a scare workforce.  Even though this bill only affects one county, many others will likely follow suit to expand the limits of these taxes to make up for other lost revenues, using this bill as justification to do so.

 

·      While Monroe County is facing an affordable housing crunch, like many other counties in Florida, one industry should not be burdened to pay for the needs of all its citizens. In fact, Monroe County has already used two-thirds of its bed taxes for things such as artificial reefs, amphitheater projects and museums. In the past, Monroe County was admonished by the Attorney General (AG Opinion 90-14) for trying to use the bed tax inappropriately for police salary purposes.

·      NOTE: The Senate companion bill, SB 482, does not currently include this amendment. FRLA will update members if the bed tax amendment is added to SB 482.