Tulsa’s City Council has raised another tax – this time a 3 percent hike on room stays at the city’s largest hotels.

Described as a “Tourism Improvement District,” the tax increase only applies to hotels with more than 110 rooms. City officials predict it will raise more than $2,400,000.00 in new revenues.

The extra money presumably will be spent on “tourism” by the chamber of commerce, which currently gets most of the city’s hotel/motel tax. That’s millions of dollars a year. Other hotel owners have argued against the ways that the chamber has spent that money. The chamber is a private organization and its finances are not open to public scrutiny.

The new tax takes effect April 1.