§338.207.  Certain municipalities; hotel occupancy tax; authorization

A.(1)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and in addition to any other tax now or hereafter levied and collected, the governing authority of any municipality having a population of less than ten thousand persons as of the most recent federal decennial census and in which a riverboat is authorized to conduct gaming activities pursuant to R.S. 27:41 et seq. may, in accordance with Subsection B of this Section, levy and collect a tax upon the paid occupancy of hotel rooms located within the municipality.  The hotel occupancy tax shall be three dollars per night per room.

(2)  The word "hotel" as used in this Section shall mean and include any establishment, public or private, engaged in the business of furnishing or providing rooms or overnight camping facilities intended or designed for dwelling, lodging, or sleeping purposes to transient guests where such establishment consists of two or more guest rooms and does not encompass any hospital, convalescent or nursing home or sanitarium, or any hotel-like facility operated by or in connection with a hospital or medical clinic providing rooms exclusively for patients and their families.

(3)  The hotel occupancy tax shall be paid by the person who exercises or is entitled to occupancy of the hotel room and shall be paid at the time the rent or fee for occupancy is paid.  "Person" as used herein shall have the same definition as that contained in R.S. 47:301(8).

B.  The governing authority of any such municipality shall impose the hotel occupancy tax by ordinance.  The governing authority may adopt such ordinance only after a proposition authorizing the levy of the tax has been approved by a majority of the electors of the municipality voting at an election held for that purpose in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Louisiana Election Code.  The governing authority may provide in the ordinance necessary and appropriate rules and regulations for the imposition, collection, and enforcement of the hotel occupancy tax.

C.  The governing authority may enter into a contract under such terms and conditions as it may deem appropriate, including payment of a reasonable collection fee, with any public entity authorized to collect sales or use taxes for the collection of the hotel occupancy tax authorized hereby.  The hotel occupancy tax shall be in addition to all taxes presently being levied upon the occupancy of hotel rooms located within the municipality.

Acts 1998, No. 48, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 33:2740.43 pursuant to Acts 2011, No. 248, §4.