Working Paper Series, Paper No. 09-01 Hotel Tax Collections and a Local Mega-Event Dennis Coates† January 2009 Abstract Cities compete for the opportunity to host events that draw large crowds of visitors. The argument is that these visitors bring with them lots of spending in hotels and restaurants, providing jobs for workers in the service industry, and generating sales tax revenues for the city. In many places, there is also a separate tax on hotel and motel accommodations. Indeed, taxes on accommodations are one example of jurisdictions exporting their tax burdens, as people who pay the accommodations taxes are visitors. This paper looks for the beneficial impact of a megaevent by focusing on the accommodations tax collections in and around the jurisdiction that hosts the event. JEL Classification Codes: L83 Keywords: sports, South Carolina, NASCAR, college football, tourism Thanks to Bruce Johnson and Kurt Rotthoff for helpful comments on a conference draft of the paper presented at the Southern Economic Association meetings in Washington, DC, November 23, 2008. All remaining errors are entirely my responsibility. †Department of Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, (410) 455-3243 (office),
[email protected] Cities compete for the opportunity to host events that draw large crowds of visitors. The argument is that these visitors bring with them lots of spending in hotels and restaurants, providing jobs for workers in the service industry, and generating sales tax revenues for the city. In many places, there is also a separate tax on hotel and motel accommodations. Indeed, taxes on accommodations are one example of jurisdictions exporting their tax burdens, as people who pay the accommodations taxes are visitors.