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Cruise ships must pay their own way
http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/4118894p-4134117c.html
Cruise ships must pay their own way COMPASS: Points of view from the community By REP. CARL GATTO (Published: October 9, 2003) Last session I sponsored legislation, HB 207, to tax cruise ship passengers at $100 a head. This tax raises $71 million to be used as follows: $10-12 million to Southeast cruise ship ports, $10-15 million to promote Alaska as a tourist destination, and the remainder to provide sorely needed help to education. My arguments in favor of my cruise ship head tax are straightforward and strictly financial. • The cruise ship industry pays similar fees to foreign ports. For instance, local advertisements indicate that cruise ship passengers pay a tax of $115 to cruise the eastern Caribbean, $99 for the western Caribbean and $78 for the Mexican Riviera. They pay nothing for Alaskan destinations. • Alaska is arguably the most beautiful place on the planet, and the cruise ship industry for years has visited the state and made a lot of money doing it. The cruise ship companies examined their own data and distributed a report claiming that cruise ship operations put their profits back into our local communities. Do they? A check reveals that much of the money reportedly generated by the influx of cruise passengers goes right back to the industry. Most of the money exits our economy in what the cruise industry calls "leakage." • Let's follow the money. All or nearly all of the tours that the ships' passengers pay for are controlled directly by the ships' owners. In fact, Alaska tours are advertised on board the ship the previous day and the money for the tour is paid to the cruise ship purser before the ship even docks. Those Alaska businesses not on the cruise ship-approved list may be listed as "not recommended" and, therefore by implication "risky." The "approved" tours, those recommended by cruise ship owners, get charged a substantial fee (kickback) by the cruise owners. The ship owners state that their fee is reasonable since they collect the money for the operators. But the cruise owners decide which excursions and businesses get their recommendation. Those not recommended almost never get a single dollar from any cruise passenger. That leaves the cruise owners to control even the land revenue generated by the ship. Any businesses that complain are dropped like a stone from the recommended list. • Next, the cruise ship lobbyists tell me that cruise owners are experiencing a net loss in profits, reportedly because of cancellations and decreased trip fees resulting from the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Again, is this truth or distortion? To get the facts, I checked the annual financial reports obtained from the industry leaders operating in Alaska. The reports show that while a net loss is true in some cases, the major owners are reporting a gross increase in revenues. • So what happened to the money? It's simple. New boat orders are eating into their profits. For example, Royal Caribbean has commissioned five new vessels, Celebrity has commissioned one, and Princess Cruise Lines is anxiously awaiting the delivery of its Diamond Princess, expected to create an 18 percent increase in gross revenues. Furthermore, all of these industry leaders report plans to increase passenger space to Alaska, stating that there is an increased passenger demand for this destination compared with foreign destinations. It appears that any dollars reportedly lost by the industry are likely the result of paying for new ships, and their investment will undoubtedly be recovered by future operations. • We should note that Alaska tourism organizations annually ask for increased state dollars for tourism marketing. But the cruise ship industry pays no corporate state income tax. Industries like oil, fishing, timber and mining pay an income tax. Phillips Cruises, operating out of Whittier, pays the tax, but the cruise ships, using the same waters, do not. • Finally, I interviewed cruise passengers on the streets of Juneau, in the Capitol Building, and on Alaska Airlines flights when passengers returned home. Not a single passenger said a tax would have stopped them from traveling to Alaska. It's time for cruise ships to pay their own way. Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, was elected to the state House in 2002. |
#2
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
wrote By REP. CARL GATTO (Published: October 9, 2003) Last session I sponsored legislation, HB 207, to tax cruise ship passengers at $100 a head. This tax raises $71 million to be used as follows: $10-12 million to Southeast cruise ship ports, $10-15 million to promote Alaska as a tourist destination, and the remainder to provide sorely needed help to education. My arguments in favor of my cruise ship head tax are straightforward and strictly financial. TRANSLATION: If I try to raise taxes to pay for education and promotion the locals will scream like banshees and more importantly, I won't get re-elected. It is much easier to put a tax on the tourists... after all, they don't vote here. We can blow some smoke and blame it all on the cruise industry but in the end, 85% of the money we make off the flat-landers will pay for stuff that we should be paying for on our own. BTW - this "tax the tourist" is nothing new. Rent a car in Florida (especially at an airport location) and watch the fees mount. I rented a car for $22 and the taxes/fees were an additional $8.52 or approximately 39%. In New York, taxes on a hotel room amount to 13.25% plus an additional $2.... plus the 8.25% sales tax. San Antonio has a 16.75% hotel tax... plus sales tax. Oh... you can vote the politicians out of office in the next election... but wait! You don't live there! Politicians LOVE to tax people who can't vote for them. -- George in PA http://www.countryside-travel.com Norwegian Dawn http://www.cruisemaster.com/dawn.htm Sleazy 3 - Carnival Conquest http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy3.htm The Mother of All Group Cruises http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com |
#3
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 08:32:56 -0400, "George Leppla"
wrote: TRANSLATION: If I try to raise taxes to pay for education and promotion the locals will scream like banshees and more importantly, I won't get re-elected. It is much easier to put a tax on the tourists... after all, they don't vote here. TRANSLATION: If there is a tax on sandwiches, Leppla would go broke. |
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
"George Leppla" wrote in message ... Oh... you can vote the politicians out of office in the next election... but wait! You don't live there! Politicians LOVE to tax people who can't vote for them. No, who can't vote AGAINST them!! Citizens like it, too - I haven't paid state income tax in over 20 years, since moving to Florida. Thanks!!! g Chris |
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
"fishman" wrote No, who can't vote AGAINST them!! Citizens like it, too - I haven't paid state income tax in over 20 years, since moving to Florida. Thanks!!! g LOL... of course, you are right. The number one priority of any politician is not to serve the public, but to get re-elected. With all the trips I have taken to Florida, I am glad to have helped ease your tax burden. Someday I will move south and join you in partaking of the largesse of the transient population! vbg -- George in PA http://www.countryside-travel.com Norwegian Dawn http://www.cruisemaster.com/dawn.htm Sleazy 3 - Carnival Conquest http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy3.htm The Mother of All Group Cruises http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com |
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 15:17:39 -0400, "George Leppla"
wrote: LOL... of course, you are right. The number one priority of any politician is not to serve the public, but to get re-elected. Blanket statements like this are crap. |
#7
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
BTW - this "tax the tourist" is nothing new. Rent a car in Florida
(especially at an airport location) and watch the fees mount. I rented a car for $22 and the taxes/fees were an additional $8.52 or approximately 39%. George, I am not a sock-it-to-the-tourist type, and I live on the non-tourist side of Orlando, but surely you recognize the impact of rental cars on Central Florida's highways. We(Orange County) just voted down a 1/2 cent sales tax increase. Maybe, some day, maybe, we will finally understand that widening highways only encourages additional traffic and work to put in light rail from the Airport to the attractions. area. Mike |
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
"Mike" wrote George, I am not a sock-it-to-the-tourist type, and I live on the non-tourist side of Orlando, but surely you recognize the impact of rental cars on Central Florida's highways. Absolutely and if the tax levied on rental cars actually goes toward roads or the development of mass transit, then I am all for it. But the "tourist taxes" seldom have anything to do with the industry that they are taxing. In the case of the original post, $71 million dollars would be raised by this tax but only $10 to $12 million would go to the cruise ports. The rest would go elsewhere.... into places that should be funded by local taxation. Wasn't there a proposed tax on cruise passengers or ships in Florida last year that would have funded a new sports stadium? That is the kind of thing that I am talking about. -- George in PA http://www.countryside-travel.com Norwegian Dawn http://www.cruisemaster.com/dawn.htm Sleazy 3 - Carnival Conquest http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy3.htm The Mother of All Group Cruises http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com |
#9
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
Wasn't there a proposed tax on cruise passengers
or ships in Florida last year that would have funded a new sports stadium? That is the kind of thing that I am talking about. Can't speak for South Florida, which does not have a lot in common with Central Florida. Much of our local hotel taxes have gone to expand the Orange County Convention Center--a good example of a tax with a correct and logical application. Mike |
#10
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Cruise ships must pay their own way
BTW - this "tax the tourist" is nothing new. Rent a car in Florida (especially at an airport location) and watch the fees mount. I rented a car for $22 and the taxes/fees were an additional $8.52 or approximately 39%. In New York, taxes on a hotel room amount to 13.25% plus an additional $2.... plus the 8.25% sales tax. San Antonio has a 16.75% hotel tax... plus sales tax. Oh... you can vote the politicians out of office in the next election... but wait! You don't live there! Politicians LOVE to tax people who can't vote for them. In some countries there is a GST (Goods and Services Tax) on everything you buy. In Florida and Nevada, when it comes to things tourists spend money on, particularly rental cars, there is a GST (Gouge and Screw Tax) |
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