ASTA is praising its members for their grassroots efforts in fighting proposals in Illinois, Maine, Ohio and Pennsylvania to expand state sales taxes to travel agency services.

Those efforts have collectively saved travel in those states more than $62.6 million a year in new taxes, said Eben Peck, ASTA executive vice president, advocacy.

"Expanding state sales taxes to travel agency services would have been devastating to our industry, and in defeating these proposals in four states - guided by headquarters - ASTA members have set the gold standard for grassroots engagement," said Peck.

"The hard work of ASTA members in Illinois, Maine, Ohio and Pennsylvania ensures that agencies in those states won't be slapped with almost $63 million collectively in new taxes every year," said Peck.

"Advocating for travel agents at all levels of government is a core part of ASTA's mission, and anyone who wants to be part of this unified effort should join ASTA today."

Early this year, the governors of Illinois, Maine, Ohio, and Pennsylvania proposed expanding their state sales taxes to travel agency services in one form or another, ranging from "travel arrangement and reservation services" in Maine and Pennsylvania, to "travel agent services" in Illinois, to "travel agent: prepackaged tours and other travel services" in Ohio.

While the exact impact of these proposals was unclear due to vague wording, ASTA estimated they would have collectively cost agencies in Illinois $22.2 million a year in new taxes, $994,000 in Maine, $23.2 million in Ohio and $16.2 million in Pennsylvania.

These proposals were stripped out of the budget in all four states, with Pennsylvania the last to resolve its budget process when Governor Thomas Wolf on Oct. 30 signed a revenue package that didn't include any new taxes on agents.

In Illinois, efforts were led by ASTA Midwest Chapter President Jesse Guerra and resulted in 91 advocacy messages to state legislators. In Maine, Chapter President Andy Holmes led the campaign while then-Mid America Chapter President Claudia Darling led the effort in Ohio where 568 advocacy messages were sent. Multiple members and chapter representatives in Pennsylvania launched that state's efforts, resulting in 122 advocacy messages.

As part of these campaigns, ASTA headquarters empowers members to voice their opposition to state legislators through legislative updates, calls to action, talking points and other grassroots resources provided by the association.

ASTA also recently partnered with the UNWTO by signing its Global Code of Ethics, a 10-point set of principles "designed to guide key-players in tourism development."

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