Has any city made you feel really unwelcome? I submit this booking from a New York City hotel certainly does that for me.
What's next - a charge for breathing city air? Another tax for using water to flush the toilet? One gets the feeling one is being financially raped to benefit the city. In that case, why go there at all?
Ye Gods and little fishes . . .
Peter
At this point, it's fairly easy for me to imagine Mamdani allowing a dirty suitcase bomb to be detonated there eventually. They didn't learn the first time.
ReplyDeleteSame ones would be dancing as they filmed it.
DeleteRemember that NYC's budget is higher than the entire state of Fla. That was noted by the governor the other day. It's not an income issue, therefore.
ReplyDelete"Ye Gods and little fishes . . ." Did you read the Biggles books when you were young?
ReplyDeleteAunt who raised me was born in 1894 and it was one of her all time favorite sayings.
DeleteMy Grandmother (born around 1880 or so) had a similar expression "Hells fire and Black Lead". She had a cast iron fireplace/stove/oven and she used "black lead" to keep it black, rather than the grey it reverted to when heated. She explained that if it was that labour intensive to keep a domestic fireplace blackened, then just imagine the labour involved in keeping Hells cast ironwork up to scratch. Hence it referred to something overwhelming and/or, like Sysiphus' labours, never ending work.
DeleteI think that she'd have used that expression if presented with that bill.
Phil B
I went through NYFC a couiple times and Spent the night across the river in the People's Socialist Republic of New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteNever going back. 2 septic tanks.
If I am reading that correctly, they charge you an Occupancy Fee, then they TAX YOU ON THE FEE.
ReplyDeleteWhy does anyone live there voluntarily?
The only way I'd go to the Big Apple at this point in my life was if somebody else paid the freight. (Like walking into a cathouse with somebody else's credit card) I doubt that I will ever return because everyone I might wish to meet with who was there once is now gone.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in New Jersey. I haven't been back there in over a decade and don't plan to return.
ReplyDeleteIt only looks good compared to New York.
Given the size of New York City's budget, I have to assume there is more fraud there than in Minneapolis.
They've been around longer, so NYC has had more time to hide it or legitimize it.
At this point, I avoid any city if I can. Later today I'm taking a longer route to avoid one.
Jonathan
I love the urban fee - paying for being a target for ferals, awesome.
ReplyDeleteThere's an art exhibit in NYC this fall at the Met.
ReplyDeleteI will stay in NJ and take the train in.
I don't give money to Commie countries or cities.
Will got to the Met and not put a dollar in NYC.
NYC is not going to come to their senses until something really terrible happens. Something like their main power goes dark, a fire that levels vast amounts of the city, kills a million, or that kind of level. Practically total economic collapse.
ReplyDeleteBack on 9/11 I remember hearing somebody being interviewed on the street saying the city was the capital of the universe. As long as they think along those lines, they'll keep thinking they can do wrong and they'll never work to fix things. They think they deserve all those fees, not that they need to compete for the tourists.
I travel a lot for work. This is not surprising in the least. Special taxes for recreation zones, civic zones, convention center zone, whatever they can think of. Same with rental cars, especially if you rent at an airport.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
Simple. The people who live there, generally don't pay these taxes. So the local pols see zero downside to passing new taxes like this and bumping up the ones already in place. Especially if they think there's something in their city that visitors can't do without. Which is true right until it isn't because said pols priced them out. At which point the tourist and business traveler tailored is called "bad luck."
+1 The locals don't care if the visitors get jammed. Business travelers just deduct the cost from their taxes or pass it through to the customers.
DeleteI had to travel to NYC on a quarterly basis when I was working. I would not be surprised that LA, Chicago or DC have the same racket going on.
Don't mind the maggots.
Gerry said, "I would not be surprised that LA, Chicago or DC have the same racket going on."
DeleteYou'll find pretty much *every* city doing it these days. Even a little town of 20,000 or so people I need to visit for work on occasion has a special hotel occupancy tax.
Look at the date, this is either a fake or a time travelor
ReplyDeleteNot at all. It's pre-booking the hotel room ahead of time. I do it all the time.
DeleteThis is why some of us will never intentionally visit or stay in a place like that. There's very little worthwhile there that can't be seen with a day trip.
ReplyDeleteThe outrage over woke policies is always fun but it's worth noting that over $40 of this is imposed *by the hotel itself*. That's why it's listed as a "fee" and not a tax and why that fee is then taxed in turn (as others have noted above to even more outrage).
ReplyDeleteThis is evidently what the market will bear and I can't blame them for running a good business. Would you rather regulate this away?
California charges a "bed tax"... AT CAMPGROUNDS!!!! And the CAMPERS BRING THE BEDS!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you're in NY more than 2 weeks a year for business, they expect you to pay income tax for all your time there as well...
ReplyDeleteThe Spirit of Tammany Hall and the Tweed Ring. Boss Mamdani. Pakistani instead of Irish.
ReplyDelete