Commissioners Court

At the January 12th regular meeting, the Hemphill County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a resolution supporting new legislation that would exempt Texas counties from paying the state’s hotel occupancy tax.

The state hotel occupancy tax is charged to anyone paying for a hotel room costing $15 or more per day. When the tax was first enacted in 1972 at a rate of 3 percent, collections totaled just $8.5 million. Legislative changes in 1984 and 1987 raised the rate to the current 6 percent, in addition to local-option hotel taxes imposed by many cities and counties.