ASTA, which last week expressed disappointment of the Maryland Senate's passage of a hotel bill that would apply taxes to travel agent service fees, took its opposition of the bill one step further, with the Society's members rallying against it in Annapolis on April 3.
Senate Bill 190, which is now pending in the Maryland House of Delegates, would levy a six percent tax on service fees or markups of both online and brick-and-mortar and travel agencies.
During a press conference with Maryland General Assembly members and the Travel Technology Association, ASTA vowed to fight against passage of the bill.
"Let's be clear. Travel agents pay their fair share in taxes," said Jay Ellenby, ASTA treasurer and president and CEO of Safe Harbors Travel Group in Bel Air, Md. "This proposed fee would tax income already subject to federal and state income taxes, resulting in triple taxation that would have to be passed on to the consumer."
ASTA member Karen Dunlap stressed the crucial role the agency distribution system plays in the economy. "This is a system that's critical to the health of the broader travel and tourism industry, but especially to the hotel chains," said Dunlap, CEO of Travel-On in Beltsville, Md. "In 2013, about a quarter of all hotel bookings, $33 billion worth of business, came through the travel agency channel."
ASTA pledged to continue to fight against all state proposals that would apply new taxes to agency fees and income. "Contrary to the misplaced notion that this will not impact brick-and-mortar agencies, traditional travel agencies do the things the big OTAs do," said Eben Peck, ASTA senior vice president of government and industry affairs. "Agencies have adapted to the Internet era and part of that evolution has been to shift their business model from one being based on commissions to one based on fees."
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