Tom Barberi-- , Laurie Wilson--

    Tom, I just read some news that has put a damper on my current Oregon vacation and beats any rainstorm this state has ever seen. Budget-challenged states and cities across the country have turned to travel taxes to raise their much needed cash.
    That means the cost of rental vehicles and homes, hotels and motels, meals and everything else that is travel-specific will increase, some as much as 10 percent. That is in addition to the sometimes exorbitant taxes already levied on travel amenities. So calculate the cost of your next vacation, double that for increased airline, rental and food prices, add $20 for the T-shirt you don't need but impulse-buy anyway, and then add 10 percent luxury tax.
    The trouble with a tax on travel is that we as travelers have nothing to say about it. We typically are not represented in the state legislatures and local councils that enact the tax. Oregon, where I often vacation, is on the list of those considering new or increased travel taxes. I lost my vote in Oregon when their liberals ran me out years ago.
    Since tea is not a major product here, I have been contemplating dumping gallons of wild blackberry jam into Coos Bay's harbor. But I have abandoned that idea as impractical, since the protest would cost me more than all my Oregon vacations combined. Probably plus 10 percent travel tax on Oregon souvenirs.
    These taxes are like the toll roads so prevalent in the Eastern states. They take little bites out of your spare cash until you wake up midway through your trip without any left. And you have no way to protest. If you want to use the roads, you have to cough up the cash.
    But at least with the toll roads, the proceeds ostensibly go for maintenance and repair. The travel luxury tax is a way to raise money for a community's schools and other needs that have nothing to do with travel. The powers in that community simply have decided to pick the tourist's pocket instead of increasing the tax burden on its own residents. After all, the tourist has no voice in the matter.
    And the effect on business travelers is even more onerous. So expect prices to go up as companies scramble to cover their increasing travel budgets, 20 percent of which already go to travel taxes now.
    Frustrating as it is, Tom, there isn't much we can do about it if we want to travel. So I guess I'll just relax and enjoy the beautiful ocean sunsets that will probably cost me 10 percent more next year.
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    Laurie Wilson is a professor in the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University. Well, Laurie, you might as well just stay in Oregon and enjoy all its wonders, because if you come back to Utah, they are going to dig deeper into your wallet for tourism here -- even though you are not a tourist. You thought other states' outrageous taxes on all things travel-related were bad. Utah has just announced that it wants more of our money to promote, you guessed it, tourism.
    I find it a little ironic that you blame the liberals of Oregon for running you out of town when the conservatives of Utah are robbing its residents blind at every turn. You don't even have to be a tourist to get stuck with the increased price of gas here, because the state is offering insurance for gas stations' holding tanks. The petroleum association in Utah announced the other day that it was considering passing along that insurance cost to the consumer. Gee, let me guess: What will they do?
    Before you complain about tourist taxes in Oregon, we residents of Utah are now being asked to cough up a ton of dough for the Utah Travel Council's future advertising campaign to lure suckers from out of state to be taken to the cleaners by our tourist taxes. Dean Reeder, director of the council, told a gang of legislators that, "We believe that if Utah, particularly on the heels of the Olympics, were to get very, very aggressive, that we can gain market share and that's really the name of the game."
    Now what does that mean to you, me and the rest of the already overtaxed Utahns? A proposed increase in spending on tourism to (drum roll) $20 million. This is the brainchild of David Harmer, director of the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
    Why do these guys want an increase of five times the current level of spending? Well, they whine that Colorado spent $55 million and Arizona $64 million, while Utah spent a piddling $13 million. It seems these guys are suffering "wallet envy" and are going to stick it to us to fulfill what is lacking in their egos. Of course, we all benefit by tourist dollars, as it is the second-largest industry in the state. But I don't remember Colorado or Arizona ever hosting an Olympic Games, which generated worldwide recognition that neither of our neighboring states could match in a hundred years of spending. If these numbers haven't sufficiently numbed your brain, they also whine like children chasing the ice cream truck that Utah residents only spent $6 each for their tourism campaigns while Arizona residents had to pony up $12 and Coloradans $13.
    Laurie, I have to laugh when you point the finger at the liberal powers in Oregon and how they have decided to pick the tourist's pocket, in light of the conservative powers of Utah having no qualms about picking the pockets of their own residents. What makes this really infuriating is that we residents of Utah end up paying more tourism taxes without even leaving home.
    At least when in Oregon, Laurie, you get to watch the sunset on the beach. Ciao.
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    Tom Barberi hosts a talk show on KALL 700 weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m.