If you are a traveler paying $50/night, you will now pay 10% more for hotels in Georgia. In fact, you will pay more than 10% for hotels less than $50/night in Georgia. Meanwhile, luxury travelers paying $200/night for hotels will only be paying 2.5% more for their hotels - and even less for hotels above $200.

For, as of July, 2015, the GOP-lead Georgia congress has imposed a $5 day A DAY bed tax - no matter what you are paying for your hotel. This was part of a transportation bill to address the infrastructure needs for Georgia's ailing bridges and roads.

This is on top of the current sales tax of 8% and any city tax, such as Atlanta's city hotel tax of 8%. So, if you book a hotel in Atlanta, the total taxes for a $39 hotel will be almost 1/3 your bill (29%) - yikes!

Will this tax increase - or decrease - tax revenue?

Hotel owners are, understandably, upset about the $5/night tax. The legislators took only 3 hours to debate this tax, a debate that did not include any economic impact studies nor hotel input.

It is expected that the additional tax will collect at $200 million/year in new taxes. However, economists at PKF Hospitality Research have estimated that the hospitality industry will lose at least $200 million in business - not to mention the lost business to restaurants and entertainment venues in Georgia.

And - lost business affects not only the local owners, it also affects additional taxes that could be collected. Plus, lost business reduces the number of tax-paying workers. And, since these workers are often at the bottom of the economic rung, these workers could easily be shifted from tax-paying members of the community to people requiring welfare.

States must take drastic measures

The hotel industry is working on getting the $5/night removed. But, states' hands are strapped, and need to do something. The transportation infrastructure is crumbling - we are all haunted by the 13 people that died when a Minneapolis, MN bridge fell into the river in 2007. And, there are thousands of deficient bridges throughout the United States.

But, actions have consequences - or, in this case, inaction has consequences. The congress has done nothing but pass short-term transportation funding extensions for 6 years now - and it doesn't look like they will do anything but another extension this year again. So, states have to take matters into their own hands if they don't want any more catastrophes.

Georgia's governor, Republican Nathan Deal (who signed Grover Norquist's "no tax" pledge), was quoted as saying, “If you look at it, I don’t think that the additional $5 is going to affect tourism. If it is, it’s a minimal effect.” Well - I was going to stay 2 more weeks in Georgia. However, I moved on - so, they already lost business from me.

The bill's stated goal was to shift the tax burden to out-of-staters. Can our states, in return, charge an additional tax to Georgians when they come to our states?