Americans to Get Tax Credit for Traveling in their Own Country

Caribbean News…
24 June 2020 6:07am
American couple with American flag

U.S. Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz) is proposing offering tax credits to Americans who spend money on lodging and entertainment as a way to encourage more travel domestically.

According to Forbes magazine and Skift, the bill, called the American TRIP Act, would also give funding to destination marketing organizations (DMOs) in order to help them promote the travel and tourism industry around the nation.

Under the bill, up to $4,000 in travel tax credits would be given to individuals and $8,000 to joint filers (plus an additional $500 credit for dependent children), for money they spend on hotels or other travel. The tax credits would be provided for in 2020, 2021, and 2022 filing years.

The credit will apply to all travel in the United States or its territories as long as all travel, expenses, and the final destination are within 50 miles of the principal residence of the filer(s).

“The tourism and hospitality industries were among the hardest-hit sectors across the country and their revival is critical to our economic recovery,” McSally said in a statement.

The U.S. Travel Association said it had proposed the idea.

“Travel has been hit harder by the fallout of the pandemic than any other U.S. industry, accounting for more than a third of the total jobs lost,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, U.S. Travel Association’s executive vice president for public affairs and policy. “The only way to get those jobs back is to get people moving around the country again, and the only way to do that is to incentivize travel.”

The bill comes at a time when domestic travel is expected to suffer due to the coronavirus. According to the latest forecast prepared for the U.S. Travel Association by Tourism Economics, domestic travel spending is projected to drop by 40 percent this year (from $972 billion in 2019 to $583 billion in 2020).

The idea of subsidizing travel for citizens to boost the industry is not new to this crisis. Italy, for example, is providing “holiday bonuses” to lower-income families who travel. Other destinations are trying different ways to get tourists to visit.

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