Pitch made for countywide hospitality tax

For the good of Oconee’s tourism and the like, a county leader proposes a countywide 2% hospitality tax—identical to the tax now charged by Oconee’s three largest municipalities. Ken Sloan, director of the Mountain Lakes Conventions Visitors Bureau, made his pitch yesterday at the business forum of the Oconee Economic Alliance. As late three hours later, Sloan was getting reaction for what he had to say. He told 96.3/WGOG NEWS that the difference between what’s charged in the cities amounts to pennies, some of which is paid by out of county residents. The tax, Sloan said, could create one million dollars a year that can be applied to carrying out Oconee’s part in the South Carolina Great Outdoors Program, which is to focus on what are considered relatively undiscovered tourist potential of places such as Oconee County. To enact the tax, however, approval would be required of an Oconee County Council that takes a dim view of creating new taxes, but Sloan says this is where an education effort is needed.