Tourist taxes are an important source of revenue for many governments. In the United States, all states impose them in the form of hotel/motel occupancy taxes, yet there is little ex post evidence as to whether such taxes affect occupancy rates. This study uses a precise establishment-level data source to examine California's varying rates by city, enabling powerful tests. The author finds that such taxes have negligible impacts on hotel sales and employment. On the other hand, hotels/motels operating in higher tax-rate cities tended to have more financial stress in terms of lower Dun and Bradstreet credit ratings.

中文翻译：

---

酒店税对经济影响的实证证据

旅游税是许多政府的重要收入来源。在美国，所有州都以酒店/汽车旅馆入住税的形式征收这些税，但关于此类税是否会影响入住率的事后证据很少。本研究使用精确的机构级数据源来检查加利福尼亚州各个城市的不同比率，从而实现强大的测试。作者发现此类税收对酒店销售和就业的影响可以忽略不计。另一方面，就较低的邓白氏信用评级而言，在税率较高的城市经营的酒店/汽车旅馆往往面临更大的财务压力。