I was supposed to stay in Savannah the other day and had to cancel, but not soon enough for the hotel not to charge me for the room. I get that, but do you normally have to pay the tax as well when you did not actually receive the service?

The tax is on the sale of the product/service. Not on the usage.

It just seems that if you don’t use said product or service, you shouldn’t be taxed.
But then I hate all taxes

quote:

Originally posted by Poacher:
I was supposed to stay in Savannah the other day and had to cancel, but not soon enough for the hotel not to charge me for the room. I get that, but do you normally have to pay the tax as well when you did not actually receive the service?

Sales tax is charged based on what you pay.

"Occupancy tax" on the other hand -- should you have to pay this if you did not occupy the room? Logically, you shouldn't. But between the hotel's bookkeeping software and the taxing authority's Al Gore rhythms there is probably no way to delete the tax charge.