TAMPA, Fla. (AP) _ Florida lawmakers are poised to make sure online travel companies such as Expedia and Travelocity won't have to pay a larger share of local hotel taxes.
Proposed bills in both houses would reverse the state's course on the matter. Two years ago, Florida's attorney general sued some of the companies to try to get them to pay a bigger chunk of those taxes.
If the bills are passed this spring, it would be a significant victory for the travel companies, which have been under siege for years by states and municipalities trying to get them to pay more.
In most states, the companies pay taxes only on the wholesale cost of the rooms they book, not the higher cost ultimately paid by the consumer.
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