Tax on Hotel Lodging Has Negative Effect

To The Editor:
It’s high time that Cape May County makes a unified cry for relief from the usurious rate (up to 15 percent) of the NJ tax on hotel lodging. Because it hurts a central component of our resort-based economy, it has a negative effect on all of us who reside here. In 2003, it was a quick fix to pay the bills in Trenton. As I look back to the rosier balance sheets of 2003 and 2004, I can’t help but agree with the axiom: The more you tax something, the less you get of it. Perhaps this is in the public interest in the case of toxic cigarettes; it’s definitely not in the interest of anyone who has their roots here in Cape May County to see our bread and butter taxed into oblivion.
Even though your business may not be the supply of lodging to vacationers, you may have noticed the withering effect of the hotel tax on your own bottom line as you try to discern your profit at the end of another season. With economic pressures on the working families who choose a beach vacation, every expense is given greater consideration in the choice of destination, dinner and entertainment. When expenses are scrutinized, some are choosing alternate locations where they can get more for their money. Taxes do count. The difference between staying with us in NJ and staying in a lower-taxed state just across the bay may be an extra day’s stay or a dinner for the family at that really nice restaurant. As money gets tighter, the pencil will get sharper and so will the pains we all feel when we try to decide how to run our businesses and take care of our families on less. The hotel occupancy tax affects all segments of the local community.
We have an economic cancer eating away at our businesses and destroying our economic health. We need help before it progresses to Stage IV. The symptoms are quite apparent: pockets of blight, such as a boarded up hotel on Cape May’s beach block in the middle of summer, a shortened season in many beach towns and a diminished number of diners in some of Cape May County’s nicest restaurants. This translates into less income for Cape May County workers due to foregone raises, leaner staffing, less work hours or job loss. Consequently, this means less money for the bulk of Cape May County residents to spend in the many other businesses which supply our most basic needs, like tires or shoes. And the giving at local churches and charities is crimped, just when it’s most needed.
We can’t stand by and allow this downward spiral to gain momentum. We must all call for action now, while Gov. Christie is deciding how to balance Trenton’s current budget. It’s time to come together and see this grievous tax axed. For, as Benjamin Franklin said, just before signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” A bill has been proposed in the NJ Assembly to bring the lodging tax down to 7 percent along the shore. It’s long past due.
Consider this as a letter to promote the common good, addressed, not only to the people, but to the political leaders, of Cape May County. Election Day may have passed, but there are only 364 or so more days left until Election Day 2011. Please make them count for the benefit of all of the Cape May County constituents you represent.
GWENNE TEMPEST
Cape May