Georgia Tourism & Hotel Taxes

I never did understand why the Georgia state legislature got involved with Georgia tourism and hotel taxes to fund tourism through city and county budgets.  Perhaps it came from cities and counties wanting a tax to fund their websites or real estate agents wanting to promote sales on their turf.  The only voters who might think this is important must be tied to tourism dollars in some way.  I’m sure some rural counties don’t have any tourists and are just fine with that.  Perhaps those counties with historical sites, hotels, antique shops and restaurants may be happy with this.  I’m also sure that other cities and counties could do without it.  Why would a state legislature mandate a local tax instead of just allowing counties to do what they want ?

When Dunwoody announced in 2009 that we needed “branding” and a Tourism staff, we laughed. Perimeter was so clogged with traffic, we thought someday drivers would just leave their cars on Ashford Dunwoody Road and walk home. Why would Atlanta metro ignore the gridlock on the roads unless it was “part of the plan”.  After all, there are no unintended consequences.  Things are the way they are on purpose.

But tourists don’t want to visit a traffic gridlocked city with mediocre tourist attractions and no parking. If tourism is to be our primary industry, we need to fix the highways and roads.

If Atlanta metro had kept up with highway development and built a bypass around Atlanta, some businesses would lose business and some farmers would have to sell some land to the State. Certainly the MARTA parishioners would object to spending money on roads and highways. Certainly the State Legislature was busy throwing cash at public school buildings and healthcare. I suspect the Chamber of Commerce had something to do with creating our dilemma. Whoever made sure that our highways became inadequate got their way.

Atlanta metro is one city that has been declared a population center by UN Agenda 21. That means that it is planned for transit, but our car-using voters won’t buy it. That doesn’t work for us.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader