16 Pa. Stat. § 2399.72

Current through P.A. Acts 2023-32
Section 2399.72 - Hotel room rental tax
(a) The county in which the authority's convention center facilities are located or are to be located is hereby authorized to impose an excise tax on the consideration received by each operator of a hotel within the market area from each transaction of renting a room or rooms to accommodate transients. The tax shall be collected by the operator from the patron of the room and paid over to the county and shall be known as the Hotel Room Rental Tax.
(b) The rate of tax imposed under this section by the county in which the authority's convention center facilities are located shall not exceed seven per centum.
(c) Subject to the deduction of the administrative fee authorized by subsection (i), the revenues shall be distributed as follows:
(1)The revenues from the special funds required under subsection (d) attributable to the levy of the first five per centum of the tax shall be distributed as follows:
(i) Eighty per centum shall be deposited within two working days in the special fund required under subsection (d) for the use of the authority for authority purposes.
(ii) Twenty per centum shall be deposited within two working days in the tourist promotion agency fund required under subsection (d) until disbursed as provided in subsection (g).
(2)The revenues from the special fund attributable to the levy of the remaining two per centum of the tax shall be deposited in the tourist promotion agency fund required under subsection (d) until disbursed pursuant to subsection (g).
(d) The treasurer of each county electing to impose the tax authorized under this section is hereby directed to collect the tax and subject to the deduction of the administrative fee authorized by subsection (i):
(1) to deposit eighty per centum of the revenues attributable to the levy of the first five per centum of the tax in a special fund established for the purposes set forth in this section;
(2) to deposit twenty per centum of the revenues attributable to the levy of the first five per centum of the tax in the tourist promotion agency fund until disbursed pursuant to subsection (g) ; and
(3) to deposit the revenues attributable to the levy of the remaining two per centum of the tax in the tourist promotion agency fund until disbursed pursuant to subsection (g)

Interest on moneys deposited in the funds shall accrue proportionately to the respective funds as provided in this section. The treasurer is hereby authorized to establish rules and regulations concerning the collection of the tax, which collection shall occur not more often than monthly nor less often than quarterly.

(e) The authority shall have the right to draw upon the special fund established pursuant to subsection (d) for the authority. Expenditures from the special fund shall be used by the authority for the following purposes:
(1) Projected annual debt service or lease payments of the convention center authority.
(2) Costs associated with financing, constructing, expanding, improving, maintaining, furnishing, fixturing and equipping convention center facilities.
(3) Costs associated with the development of convention center facilities, including, but not limited to, design, engineering and feasibility costs.
(4) Costs associated with the operation and management of convention center facilities.
(5) Costs associated with promoting, marketing and otherwise encouraging use of the convention center facilities.
(6) General purposes of the authority.
(7) Grants authorized under section 2399.55(e).
(f) If and to the extent that the authority pledges its share of the proceeds of the tax authorized by this section as security for the payment of bonds issued by the authority for convention center purposes:
(1) the Commonwealth does hereby pledge to and agree with any person, firm or corporation subscribing to or acquiring bonds to be issued by the authority for convention center purposes that the Commonwealth itself will not, nor will it authorize a county to, reduce the rate of tax imposed for convention center purposes until all bonds so secured by the pledge of the authority, together with interest, are fully met and discharged; and
(2) the county may not reduce the rate of tax imposed for convention center purposes until all bonds so secured by the pledge of the authority, together with interest, are fully met and discharged.
(g) Revenues received from the tax deposited into the tourist promotion agency fund required under subsection (d) shall be disbursed by each county to the tourist promotion agency within ten days of receipt thereof.
(h) Each tax year for any tax imposed hereunder shall run concurrently with the county's fiscal year.
(h.1) An audited report on the income and expenditures incurred by a tourist promotion agency receiving any revenues from the tax authorized under this section shall be submitted annually by the tourist promotion agency to the county commissioners.
(h.2) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in counties of the third class having a population under the 1990 Federal Decennial Census in excess of 415,000 residents but less than 500,000 residents, a penalty of one and one-half per centum per month shall be imposed for failure to timely remit the tax authorized by this section. In addition to other remedies available for collection of debts, the county may also file a lien upon the hotel in the name of and for the use of the county as provided by law for municipal claims.
(i) For purposes of defraying the costs of collecting the tax imposed hereunder and otherwise performing its obligations under this subdivision, the county is hereby authorized to deduct and retain an administrative fee from the taxes collected hereunder. Such administrative fee shall be established by the county but shall not exceed in any tax year the lesser of:
(1) two per centum of all taxes collected hereunder; or
(2) forty thousand dollars ($40,000), which amount shall be adjusted biannually, beginning two years after the date of enactment, by the percentage growth in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers as determined by the United States Department of Labor.
(j) The county shall have the authority to prescribe such rules and regulations as the county determines are appropriate to administer the provisions of this subsection.
(k) As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:

"Consideration" shall mean receipts, fees, charges, rentals, leases, cash, credits, property of any kind or nature or other payment received by operators in exchange for or in consideration of the use or occupancy by a transient of a room or rooms in a hotel for a temporary period.

"Convention center" or "convention center facility" shall mean any land, improvement, structure, building, or part thereof, or property interest therein, whether owned by or leased by or to or otherwise acquired by an authority, appropriate for any of the following: large public assemblies, the holding of conventions, conferences, trade exhibitions and other business, social, cultural, scientific, sports, recreational, artistic and public interest events, performances and exhibitions, and all facilities, furniture, fixtures and equipment necessary or incident thereto, including hotels, meeting rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, ballrooms, reception areas, registration and prefunction areas, locker rooms, practice areas and equipment, training areas and equipment, truck loading areas, including access thereto, accessways, including, but not limited to, tunnels, overhead walkways, escalators, elevators and other connections to nearby or adjoining buildings or facilities, regardless of whether such buildings or facilities constitute convention center facilities or are owned or controlled by the authority, common areas, lobbies, offices and areas appurtenant to any of the preceding, and also including other land, buildings, structures or facilities for use or planned for use in conjunction with the foregoing, including, but not limited to, landscaping, buffer areas, off-street parking, retail areas and other improvements related to a convention center facility owned by or leased by or to an authority, regardless of whether such improvements are for the purpose of producing revenues to assist in defraying the costs or expenses of such convention center facility.

"Hotel" shall mean a hotel, motel, inn, guesthouse or other building or complex of buildings located within the market area which holds itself out by any means, including advertising, license, registration with an innkeeper's group, convention listing association, travel publication or similar association or with a government agency, as being available to provide overnight lodging or use of facility space for consideration to persons seeking temporary accommodation. The term includes a place which advertises to the public at large or a segment of the public that it will provide beds, sanitary facilities or other space for a temporary period to members of the public at large. The term also includes a place recognized as a hostelry, provided that portions of a facility which are devoted to persons who have established permanent residence shall not be included in this definition. The term does not include a bed and breakfast homestead or inn as defined in the act of May 23, 1945 (P.L. 926, No. 369), referred to as the Public Eating and Drinking Place Law .

"Market area" shall mean:

(1) With respect to a county in which there is more than one city of the third class, the entire county.
(2) With respect to a county in which there is only one city of the third class, one of the following, as selected by the governing body of the county:
(i) That city and the area within the county which is not more than fifteen miles from the city limits of the county seat.
(ii) That city and the area within the county which, as determined by the governing body of the county imposing the tax, derives a material benefit from the existence of the convention center within the county. The owner of a hotel affected by a determination by the governing body under this subparagraph may challenge the determination by filing a petition in the court of common pleas in the judicial district where the determination was made.

"Occupancy" shall mean the use or possession or the right to the use or possession by a person other than a permanent resident of a room in a hotel for any purpose or the right to the use or possession of the furnishings or to the services accompanying the use and possession of the room.

"Operator" shall mean any individual, partnership, nonprofit or profit-making association or corporation or other person or group of persons who maintain, operate, manage, own, have custody of or otherwise possess the right to rent or lease overnight accommodations in a hotel to the public for consideration.

"Patron" shall mean any person who pays the consideration for the occupancy of a room or rooms in a hotel.

"Permanent resident" shall mean any person who has occupied or has the right to occupy a room or rooms in a hotel as a patron or otherwise for a period exceeding thirty consecutive days.

"Room" shall mean a space in a hotel set aside for use and occupancy by patrons, or otherwise, for consideration, having at least one bed or other sleeping accommodations provided therein.

"Temporary" shall mean a period of time not exceeding thirty consecutive days.

"Tourist promotion agency" shall mean the agency designated by the governing body of a county or county seat in which the convention center facilities are located to be eligible for grants from the Department of Community and Economic Development pursuant to the act of July 4, 2008 (P.L.621, No.50), known as the "Tourism Promotion Act."

"Transaction" shall mean the activity involving the obtaining by a transient or patron of the use or occupancy of a hotel room from which consideration emanates to the operator under an express or an implied contract.

"Transient" shall mean an individual who obtains an accommodation in any hotel for himself by means of registering at the facility for the temporary occupancy of a room for the personal use of that individual by paying to the operator of the facility a fee in consideration therefor.

"Treasurer" shall mean the elected treasurer of the county or, if there is no elected treasurer of the county, such other official or agent of the county as may be designated by the county to collect and account for the tax authorized by this section.

16 P.S. § 2399.72

Amended by P.L. 1191 2012 No. 145, § 1, eff. 12/7/2012.
1955, Aug. 9, P.L. 323, No. 130, § 2399.72, added 2000, Oct. 18, P.L. 541, No. 73, § 2, effective in 60 days. Amended 2004, Nov. 29, P.L. 1275, No. 155, § 2, imd. effective; 2005, July 5, P.L. 38, No. 12, § 6, effective Sept. 6, 2005.