Christopher A. Concepcion
THE Marianas Visitors Authority supports House Bill 23-93, which would replace the hotel occupancy tax with a transient accommodation tax.
Authored by Rep. Julie Ogo, H.B. 23-93 proposes to amend Public Law 18-1, which imposes a 15% hotel occupancy tax on hotel guests. The HOT is MVA’s primary source of revenue.
H.B. 23-93, which is now with the House Ways and Means Committee, would also impose a 15% transient accommodation tax on guests of air bed and breakfast rooms or Airbnb’s, condominiums, a room or even an entire house used for transient accommodations.
The measure would require property owners who offer their house for temporary lodging to register every year with the Department of Finance’s licensing division. Once registered, they will be considered as “transient accommodation operators.”
In his letter to Ogo, who chairs the House Committee on Commerce & Tourism, MVA Managing Director Christopher A. Concepcion said MVA supports H.B. 23-93 “in general” in line with the administration’s goal to “close any loopholes related to the collection of the hotel occupancy tax.”
“We have no objection to changing the names of the tax since some might assume that the term ‘hotel’ applies only to traditional hotels,” Concepcion said, noting that the bill would also apply to Airbnb’s, guesthouses, motels, apartments, so “transient accommodation tax” is appropriate.
Concepcion, however, noted that unlike P.L. 18-1, which appropriates 80% of HOT to MVA, H.B. 23-93 does not make any reference to the tourism agency.
He recommends that the committee include language in the bill to ensure that MVA receives adequate funding to implement tourism promotional programs, destination enhancement activities, beautification projects, and other tourism-related functions.
Concepcion also recommended that the committee seek the comments of the Hotel Association of the NMI and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce “because as frontliners in the transient accommodations, they may have valuable or differing perspectives.”
