Arlington County is weighing whether to tax hotel guests for the total cost of their stay, including fees and other charges, and not just the cost of the room.
The potential change to the transient occupancy tax — the revenue from which has collapsed amid the pandemic, affecting Arlington’s incentive arrangement with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) — follows changes to the tax definition in the state code adopted by the Virginia General Assembly. Arlington board members will decide Saturday whether to approve a request for a public hearing on the issue during its Oct. 16 board meeting.
It is unclear how much this change would increase revenue and Arlington doesn’t yet have an estimate. The transient occupancy tax applies to any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, cabin, camping grounds, or clubs that can lodge four or more people at a time. As it stands now, the 8.25% tax is levied on the total cost paid for each room or space rented and occupied by the same person for less than 30 days.
The…
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