HORN LAKE, MS (abc24.com) - Two dollars a night may not sound like much, but it can add up. That's the tourism tax hotels charge in Horn Lake.
The city's been collecting it since early 2000, but the law authorizing it expired last July and the state never stopped collecting the cash. Now customers could be getting some of their cash back.
Ethan Edmundson pays around $40 a night for his Horn Lake hotel room. Included in his bill is a two dollar tourism tax.
"I stay here a lot," Edmundson says, agreeing he's probably paid the tax a lot.
But for the last year, hotels shouldn't have been collecting it. The law expired, but the state never told businesses to eliminate the charge, meaning guests have been overpaying.
"I stay here months at a time so yeah, it would add up," Edmundson tells abc24.com.
"I don't know how it's going to go. It seems to me they may have to refund some money," says Mississippi State Representative Pat Nelson (R-DeSoto).
Nelson explains legislators tried passing a bill continuing the tax, but the Senate didn't approve it.
In the meantime, he says hotels are still collecting the money from guests.
"The state has still not alerted hotels to stop collecting it."
Nelson says Horn Lake is saving the money, in case it has to be refunded.
Guests like Edmundson are paying attention, saying those two dollars add up.
