Sunday, August 06, 2006

Ukiah Pols Hoping For Bed Tax Increase

I don't think I'll ever understand the thinking of people who propose some kinds of taxes. Case in point, Ukiah.

Not satisfied with the current 8% Transient Occupancy Tax visitors pay for lodging in Ukiah, powers that be are proposing the tax be raised to 10%. The increased revenue will supposedly be used "in a way that benefits Ukiah's tourism industry and upkeep...".

One innkeeper has it almost right. She says, "Ukiah isn't yet a destination. Until they make it a destination, I don't think they should keep raising taxes.".

So, wait until people start coming and then try to suck them dry, huh? Seems to me, if you want to make your town a tourist destination, one thing you could do is keep it affordable.

But, no, some people are so fixated on tax revenue all they can think of is how to raise taxes, giving little thought at all to whether people might choose to go somewhere else that's less expensive to stay at.

I enjoy staying in Ukiah, despite the fact I only stay there when I have to. If they raise their bed tax, I will start looking elsewhere for lodging.

3 Comments:

At 1:36 PM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

Fred, for the life of me, I cant figure out why someone would stay in Ukiah. I mean, go to Ukiah to stay. I don't get it. Don't you think if you were heading somewhere it would be Hopland or Willits?

 
At 7:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do they have a Foster's Freeze there? I'd go anywhere they have one of those.

 
At 8:34 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Why Ukiah, Anon.r? Because it fits the travel schedule.

If we have a afternoon appointment at UCSF, we end up leaving at zero dark thirty and driving all the way to UCSF (I hate that). Then, when we're done, we're pretty much spent, but we can handle the drive to Ukiah. Stay the night and then a three hour drive home the next day.

If we have morning appointments, as we have the last two times, we drive down the day before, leaving sometime around noonish. We make it to Novato, spend the night there and then it's just a forty five minute drive to UCSF. Take care of our business and it's not too difficult to drive all the way home after we're done at USCF and get to Eureka before six in the evening.

I like Hopland and Willits, although I don't know that I'd want to stay the night in Hopland.

We had thought about staying in Willits, once, but figured, if we were staying over on the way back, that extra half hour might be a bit much for us after a full day and if it was on the way down, it would be a three and a half hour drive to UCSF next morning. That would be a bit much if we had to drive all the way back that same day.

 

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