Last Saturday morning I was in my kitchen buttering some toast when I heard my wife in the Family Room yell, “Are these people insane?” Just to let you know, Julie screaming at a television is not an uncommon event.
So I went into the room, and in large block letters across the TV on a local newscast it said, “Increase In Hotel Tax To Boost Tourism.” I shook my head, and re- read it a second time, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
Downtown Chicago Hotels now charge a 17.5% tax on rooms. This is being increased to 19% which will supposedly raise another $40M in taxes annually.
This would be the highest hotel tax in the nation; not just in Chicago but the whole country. The money is supposedly going to Choose Chicago, which is a governmental agency tasked with promoting Chicago as a Tourism and Convention Center Destination.
But the concept of increasing taxes to boost revenues is ludicrous.
Meeting and Convention Planners look at their attendee costs when choosing a location for their events. Chicago is already behind the eight ball when you look at the union costs to do something as fundamental as getting electricity to a tradeshow booth.
The old joke is, “How many guys does it take to screw in a lightbulb at McCormick Place?”
The Union Steward answers, “Seventy-Three. You got a problem with that Bub?”
Now our hotel rooms are going to cost even more. And somehow this is going to boost tourism?
How any responsible news organization could say this on the air without bursting into laughter is beyond imagination. Maybe they should pull on this leg to see what comes out.
I’ll bet you dimes to donuts that a couple of years from now I’ll write another column telling you that the increase in taxes sold less hotel rooms rather than more.
Let me leave you with this…
We’ve been told that our final tax software updates won’t be completed until around the 10th of February. At that point, I should be able to begin printing out the returns we’ve already finished and begin sending them out.
The deadline for filing S Corp and Partnership returns is March 15th. Please get your final year end answers into us by March 1st so that we can guarantee that your return will be completed timely.
The deadline for Personal Income Tax Returns, C Corps, and Estate and Trust Returns is April 15th. Please get your final year end answers into us by April 1st, so that we can also get these done timely.
If your final answers aren’t received by those dates, your returns will be extended. This will provide an automatic 6 months extension for filing the “paper” return.
Please realize that extensions don’t extend the due date of any payment that might be due with the return when it is filed. If you would like to make a tax deposit with your extension, that may relieve a Failure To Pay Penalty, please let us know.
Please get your work into us today. As always, we’ll do anything we can to get your returns done timely and accurately.
As always, if you aren’t one of our clients and are having difficulties with your accounting and tax work, I’m waiting for you to contact me and look forward to providing an Accounting Solution.
We’re all going to get through this. Let’s get through it together.
Accounting Solutions Ltd. stands ready to complete our mission and purpose of protecting you, your family, and your business. Whether you need Payroll Services, or Accounting and Tax Work, you have but to ask. I’m here and I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Chris Amundson
President
Accounting Solutions Ltd.
773-267-7500
888-310-0300
www.AccountingSolutionsLtd.com
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