A study of the association of the Iowa hotel and motel tax with the general property tax mill rate for Iowa communities.

摘要

The availability of tax revenue data in digital format prompted a study of Iowa communities with respect to their general property tax mill rate and the presence or absence of a hotel and motel tax. Both of these revenue sources are dispersed entirely to the local community. The revenue does not remain in the State's general fund. Alternative tax revenue sources are an important component in the decision making process of local city planners, city managers and community development administrators.; The intent of this thesis was to determine if there is an association between the general property tax mill rates of Iowa communities and presence of a hotel and motel tax. Do communities with a hotel and motel tax tend to have a higher or lower property tax mill rate? Secondary data available from the U.S. Census Bureau, Iowa Department of Revenue and Iowa Department of Management was used to examine the relationship between the mean property tax mill rate in Iowa communities with the presence of a hotel and motel tax and communities that do not assess the tax. Each community's population growth rate between 1980 and 2000 was also calculated and used as a control variable. The study years were FY 1998 to FY 2007 and study data for all communities in Iowa was compiled into a master data base.; The findings of this research study were (1) cities with the presence of a hotel and motel tax tend to have, on average, a 2.05 higher general property tax mill rate than cities without the hotel and motel tax. (2) When population growth rate was used a s a control variable, cities with a hotel and motel tax tended to have a property tax mill rate of .90 higher than cities without this alternative tax. The intent of this research study was to determine if there was an association between the general property tax mill rate for cities with and without the hotel and motel tax. The study was limited by the number of years for which digital data was available from the State of Iowa.; Planners, community development directors, policy makers and citizen action groups have access to these digital data bases. Findings in the study were not reported for individual cities in Iowa either by population, location or current property tax mill rate. The public digital data files allow individuals to investigate current rates, revenue totals and trends for specific cities. The master data base for this study is included. This data base includes a list of the 954 Iowa communities, population totals for 1980 and 2000, population growth rate for each city, the presence or absence of a hotel and motel tax and the general property tax mill rate for Fiscal Years 1998 to 2007. A second data base lists each city with a hotel and motel tax (1979-2007), the intervention date, current tax rate and revenue collected for Fiscal Years 1981-2005. Conclusions offered by this study indicate the implementation of a hotel and motel tax by a community may not reduce the general property tax mill rate. The revenue generated by the hotel and motel tax is a viable source of additional revenue to use for both the general operating expenses of a community and the improvement and maintenance of recreation, convention and entertainment facilities and for the promotion of tourism. All of the revenue generated by the hotel and motel tax is available to the local community; none of the revenue collected remains in the Iowa General Fund.