It almost sounds too good to be true.
But Arizona Republican Senator Martha McSally has authored the American Tax Rebate and Incentive Program Act to inspire people to go on vacation.
The bill is aimed to get people traveling again in the hopes of resuscitating the struggling tourism sector. Like Louisiana, Arizona relies heavily on tourism to fund their bottom line.
So, McSally looks to jump-start tourism with a generous tax credit.
Four-thousand dollars per individual and 500 dollars per dependent child can be written off of your taxes.
If you owe the IRS 15-thousand dollars and spend four thousand dollars on a trip, the amount is subtracted from your tax bill, i.e.; you owe just 11-thousand dollars.
The bill is already receiving a warm reception from New Orleans and Company’s Chief Marketing Director Mark Romig.
“It’s a valiant effort to kick start travel by the consumer. We support all bi-partisan efforts to kick start travel and save tens of thousands of small businesses that are involved in the tourism industry. It would be something that would certainly help our economy, I think it’s a great effort.”
Another aspect of the bill is a 50-million dollar allotment to be distributed among Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) to promote travel and tourism across the nation.
“I must underscore the need for Destination Marketing Organizations to receive support because we are actually the fuel for the economy,” Romig says. “We’re the ones messaging out to invite people to New Orleans, so we need help as well.”
One factor about the bill is for an individual to take advantage of the tax credit, they will need to travel 50-or-more miles from home.
This fits right into New Orleans and Company’s direct marketing plan to attract road trippers from around the region.
“Our sweet spot actually is a regional drive market between two-and-300 miles from New Orleans. So that is the majority of people who have visited New Orleans in the past.”
McSally introduced the on Monday, so it has yet to move to a committee for deliberation.
“We’ll be very interested in following this to see how far it gets in Congress. Any effort that we can do, particularly bi-partisan efforts, to kick start travel and save tens of thousands of small businesses we’re for.”
