Hotel collections drop again in April; meal collections rise

TAX COLLECTIONS from Rhode Island restaurants rose 2.8 percent in April compared with the same month a year earlier, while hotel collections fell 12.1 percent, the R.I. Department of Revenue reported Thursday. / COURTESY MERITAGE-WARWICK
TAX COLLECTIONS from Rhode Island restaurants rose 2.8 percent in April compared with the same month a year earlier, while hotel collections fell 12.1 percent, the R.I. Department of Revenue reported Thursday. / COURTESY MERITAGE-WARWICK

PROVIDENCE – Meal and beverage tax collections from local restaurants in Rhode Island totaled $1.77 million in April, an increase of 2.8 percent compared with the $1.73 million collected in April 2013, the R.I. Department of Revenue reported Thursday.

On a month-over-month basis, meal and beverage collections rose less significantly, increasing nine-tenths of a percent over the March 2014 total of $1.76 million.

Hotel tax collections, meanwhile, fell 12.1 percent year over year to $166,093 in April from $188,953 during the same period a year earlier, but increased 3.8 percent month over month from $160,005 in March.

Rhode Island’s meal and beverage tax requires all restaurants in the state to charge a 1 percent local tax on the sale of all meals and beverages. Similarly, the local hotel tax requires hotels to charge a 1 percent tax on all transactions. Tax collections represent a fair gauge of restaurant and hotel activity in Rhode Island during a given period.

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Of Rhode Island’s 39 municipalities, Richmond saw the largest percentage increase in meal and beverage collections over the year, at 110 percent, followed by Jamestown (42.4 percent), West Greenwich (20.8 percent) and Central Falls (17.7 percent). Portsmouth posted the largest decline, at 17.4 percent.

Portsmouth led Rhode Island’s cities and towns for largest percentage increase in hotel collections for November, at 120 percent, followed by Glocester (109.9 percent) and Scituate (81.6 percent), while Little Compton saw the largest decrease at 72.3 percent.

As of April, fiscal year-to-date meal and beverage collections statewide totaled $18.1 million and hotel collections totaled $2.5 million, which represented a 5.1 percent increase and a 4 percent increase over the same period in fiscal year 2013, respectively.

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