Taxes on travelers help support sports venues, other causes

If you check into a hotel in Charlotte, N.C., consider visiting the NASCAR Hall of Fame. After all, 2% of the taxes you pay for your hotel room support the facility.

Across the country, taxes charged on hotel, car rental and restaurant bills go to a variety of causes besides filling the local government coffers, according to a review of travel-related taxes by the travel planning website Away.com.

In Tampa, 0.5% of hotel taxes and 0.5% of car rental taxes are used to help the homeless.

In Indianapolis, 10% of hotel taxes are used to support Indiana Stadium and the Convention Building Authority, which built the stadium used by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

In Seattle, 2% of the taxes you pay on a car rental and 0.5% of restaurant taxes support various causes, including paying off bonds for Mariners stadium, a convention center expansion and low-income housing.

But Kate Chandler, the senior editor at Away.com., said most taxes support the city or a local tourism effort.

Los Angeles, for example, collects a 14.5% tax on hotel guests — 14% of which goes to the city’s general fund; the rest goes to the state tourism board.

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Follow Hugo Martin on Twitter at @hugomartin