Mayor Bloomberg Balks At Proposed Hotel Tax

Mayor Bloomberg is balking at a proposal by City Council members to increase the hotel tax to 8% to avoid budget cuts to public schools.

"We don't want to have more taxes that would hurt the economic well-being of this city. For example, a tax on tourists is a terrible idea. We desperately need tourists from around the world," he said yesterday. "International tourism is down throughout our country something like 17%. It is up 9% in New York. Killing the golden goose is not a smart thing to do."

A council member of Queens, John Liu, said the hotel tax increase is a serious proposal that some members find more "palatable" than cutting $450 million from the Department of Education budget.

Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday that he anticipates the city will have an on-time budget.