GAINESVILLE - A report from the Gainesville-Hall County Convention & Visitors Bureau shows tourists provide 25 percent of the local sales tax revenue collected in Hall County.
Release of the report comes with a referendum on extending the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax just days away.
According to the report, this amounts to $5.29 million of the $20 million collected in sales tax revenue in Hall County in 2002.
"These figures basically mean that about 25 percent of the monies coming from the proposed Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax will come from people who visit Hall County as tourists," said Helen Fincher, president of the Gainesville/Hall Convention and Visitors Bureau. "It's important for our residents who will vote on the issue understand that they will not bear the full costs of this tax. As tourism grows in the county, the amount of taxes collected from tourism will also grow. This is good news and should positively affect our residents' view of extending the SPLOST."
The Census 2000 found that approximately 25 percent of those working in Hall County are not residents of Hall. This large and daily influx of workers accounts for another 15 percent of SPLOST revenue.
"This really represents nearly 40 percent of revenue generated by sales tax in our county," she said, "coming from non-resident workers and tourists."
Hall County visitors also paid $7.23 million in taxes to the State of Georgia in 2002, according to reports.
Hall County's tourism revenues in 2002 were $175 million, 11th-highest in the state and highest in the Georgia Mountains region, according to Fincher. These revenues, she said, support a $45.3 million payroll for tourism in northeast Georgia, from restaurant and hospitality workers to those in retail and related businesses. More than 68 percent of all visitors to Georgia's mountains are from out-of-state; the remaining 32 percent are from within the state, according to figures from the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
Friday
October 18th, 2024
9:41PM
