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Ridge's Dirty Little Tax

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Chris Cox Has the Right Stuff

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Bench Strength

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Enter the Decoy

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Heartbreak Ridge

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A Hagel Gaffe

6/21/00 1:15 p.m.
Ridge's Dirty Little Tax
A little nugget from the Pennsylvania budget.

By Ben Domenech, NRO Contributing Editor

ennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge may attract criticism from conservatives for his views on abortion, but his fiscal-conservative credentials are rarely challenged. Indeed, the Governor has maintained a solid image in his state and in Washington as a highly motivated tax-cutter.

However, in the latest budget passed by the state legislature, the budget that Ridge is preparing to sign, there's just the type of hidden tax that traditionally drives economic conservatives to ripping their sackcloth and pouring ashes about their heads.

When Ridge's signature is in place, a "local option" will be enacted, authorizing Pennsylvania localities to levy a hotel occupancy tax of 3.5%. While the legislation doesn't specifically address counties by name, it was apparently drafted with the Lehigh and Northampton counties in mind. According to the Lehigh Valley News, both counties plan to establish the new tax by September; and by using the "local option" method, Ridge has attempted to avoid the inevitable anti-tax venom directed at him by fiscal conservatives.

"It makes absolutely no sense for the Governor to be doing this, no sense at all," says Americans for Tax Reform's Damon Ansell. "Especially when he's got a sizable budget surplus on hand, and he's just given the state a great tax cut."

The money raised from the tax, an amount predicted to be around $2.5 million annually, will go towards promotion and marketing designed to encourage regional tourism.

"On the whole, it's a very good budget. It's the best bill I've seen put through in Pennsylvania," says Jim Broussard, Chairman of Citizens Against Higher Taxes. "But even though the legislators aren't explicitly raising taxes, that's the end result of this bill."

Regardless of whether the hotel tax is an important issue or not, Broussard says he find the entire plan ludicrous.

"The idea is to raise money to encourage more tourism, but you're sticking the tax to the tourists at the same time," says Broussard. "It's like saying, 'Come stay here, it's great--and we just made it more expensive.'"

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