Guest Author
Unfortunately, the House has decided to move forward with legislation (HB 7033) that would upend Florida’s economy, killing jobs and small businesses.
This proposal, which is still in play during this extended Legislative Session, would divert counties’ local tourist development tax (TDT) revenue as a property tax credit — eliminating funding for tourism promotion, marketing and tourism facilities.
Colloquially called “bed taxes,” TDT is a 2% to 6% tax (depending on the county) on overnight stays at hotels and other accommodations, the vast majority of which are paid by visitors to Florida. These taxes were advocated for, and self-imposed by, the tourism industry in order to boost tourism marketing and fund tourism-related projects — such as beach renourishment, event venues and sports facilities — without putting the burden of those efforts on Florida residents.
Through these funds, tourism marketing helps fuel Florida’s economy, generating more than 2 million jobs statewide and $124 billion in annual visitor spending. In fact, according to multiple county studies, TDT-funded tourism marketing delivers a return on investment anywhere from 30-to-1, 40-to-1, even 60-to-1 in some counties.
That’s the kind of multiplier effect small government advocates should celebrate, not dismantle. (And, the “investment” is paid for by the visitors themselves, meaning residents get the return without making the investment.)
Instead, lawmakers want to redistribute TDT to be used solely for a property tax “credit” for pennies on the dollar. For many counties, the average savings for a property owner will be less than $12 a month. Meanwhile, taxpayers will be handed the bill for the tourism related infrastructure currently covered by TDT, including beach repairs, parks, emergency services and all the jobs lost from declining visitation.
Redistributing TDT also disproportionately harms our rural counties, many of which rely on TDT to not only fund their tourism promotion efforts, but to also bring business to their local restaurants, shops and hotels. Many rural businesses are run by multiple generations of the same family. Stripping rural communities of TDT would cause these families to board up their businesses and could even kill rural communities.
Further, this proposal would eliminate local tourism promotion organizations. While it does allow for them to be reauthorized, they would have to be funded from general revenue funds. These sources would likely come in the form of a ballot referendum at the county level that levies a new tax on residents to pay for tourism marketing.
To put it simply, the House wants to take away a revenue source primarily paid for by tourists to promote tourism then turn around and essentially encourage local governments to levy a new tax on residents to promote tourism.
This isn’t just bad policy, it frankly doesn’t make any sense.
True fiscal responsibility requires understanding trade-offs. Instead of empowering local leaders to allocate locally collected funds, the House has traded pragmatism for a puzzling redistribution of funds, all in the name of cost savings that won’t put a dent in Floridians’ monthly bills. And in doing so, they’ve put one of our state’s most reliable, job-creating systems in jeopardy.
There’s still time for the Senate to reject this overreach. We don’t need to break what’s working. We need to stand up for the principles that made Florida a no-income-tax success story in the first place: local freedom, free-market investment, and policies that let prosperity rise from the ground up, not from mandates handed down from Big Government.
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Robert Skrob is the Executive Director of Destinations Florida, the statewide association that serves local tourism promotion organizations.
