Online travel sites agree to partial settlement with Georgia cities and counties
Several travel websites have agreed to a partial settlement with hundreds of Georgia cities and counties. The settlement comes after a class action lawsuit filed in 2005 that accuses the websites of failing to pay some hotel/motel taxes owed to local governments.
Websites such as Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline.com and Travelocity are accused of only paying hotel occupancy taxes on the wholesale rates they pay to reserve hotel rooms.
The local governments claimed once the sites mark those hotel rooms up for consumers, they failed to pay the additional occupancy taxes owed to cities and counties.
Attorney Bob Lamar with Lamar, Archer and Cofrin says the partial settlement is expected to bring in a total of at least $1 million dollars and will benefit more than 250 Georgia cities and counties.
“This provides a certain relief going forward for the majority of the taxes which would be due from May 2011 forward, and it provides an ongoing stream of tax revenue to the cities and counties of Georgia.”
Lamar says the local governments will continue to fight for millions of dollars in additional tax money they believe the companies owe.
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