Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have three returns to oral questions.
Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Ms. Lee on June 21st, 2000, regarding the number of establishments where room charges would be subject to the proposed hotel room tax.
I would like to clarify that the proposed tax will be levied as a percentage of the nightly room charge. The tax will be added to the bill of the individual staying in the room. The business will collect the tax and remit it to the government, similar to businesses that collect and remit the tobacco, fuel and payroll taxes.
Based on current tourism establishment licenses, there are 43 hotels, motels and inns in the Northwest Territories. We estimate that there are about 1,000 rooms in these establishments, all of which would be subject to the proposed hotel tax
There are 28 licensed bed and breakfasts in the Northwest Territories. Under our proposal, establishments with less than four separate rooms would be exempt from the hotel tax. There are 16 of these smaller bed and breakfasts in the territory, leaving 12 establishments with an estimated 75 rooms that would be subject to the tax.
The total number of hotels, motels, inns and larger bed and breakfasts where we anticipate rooms would be subject to the tax would be 55. The estimate of hotel room tax revenues was based on a 60 percent occupancy rate in rooms in these establishments.
There are also 47 lodges currently registered under the tourism establishment licenses. We do not have a room count associated with these establishments, but their capacity is estimated at about 800 persons per night. However, many of these lodges would offer accommodation for part of the year only, and accommodation in some smaller lodges would be exempt from the proposed tax.
There are also numerous other types of licensed establishments, such as tent camps and cabin rentals. We estimate there are approximately 50 such establishments, but the vast majority of these would likely be small or temporary accommodations that would be exempt from tax.