Orange County Tourist Tax Figures

Orange County Tourist Tax Figures at 5%:

2000 $108.2 million
2001 $104.8 million
2002 $91.7 million
2003 $93.4 million
2004 $111 million
2005 $120.1 million (projected)

The lapse in 2002 was caused by a drop in tourism due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The county currently claims a 5-year average growth of tourist tax revenues of 2.8%, but that is because they factor in the 9/11 effect. Moving forward, growth will be, and has been, much more rapid but the county is hiding behind this smaller growth projection.

At 5% the Orange County Tourist Tax continues to grow, but as mentioned before is all used exclusively for the convention center. However, an increase to 6% will bring more revenue from the tax that could be invested in local venues for the residents, such as a new arena.

Local Resident Sends in Editorial About Arena

Recently Peter R. McGrath, a resident of Orange County wrote a very strong letter to the editor at the Orlando Sentinel about the shortsightedness that some people are taking when it comes to the idea of a new arena. His views reflect the idea that a new arena does more for Orlando than just keep the Magic here. Because I have received permission to reprint the editorial I have provided the link to this article…scroll down on the site to find it.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/orl-edple03050305may03,1,6299598.story

Thanks to Chase Brenton for compiling the numbers and county tax information contained in this report.