Tourism Commission Member John Bryant said that other cities in the area, such as Eddyville, Grand Rivers and Kuttawa, already have restaurant taxes, and suggested a 2 – 3 percent restaurant tax for Cadiz, a tax he said wouldn’t apply to the rural parts of the county.
“We are severely deprived,” said Bryant. “We (the tourism commission) are operating on a budget that’s almost non-existent.”
A 2 – 3 percent restaurant tax would help pay for ways to increase Cadiz’s visibility, including billboards in Illinois and Tennessee along Interstate 24, according to Bryant. Commission members agreed that even a 3 percent tax would add only few cents to most people’s meals.
“The city of Cadiz sold gross $9.8 million of food last year,” Bryant said. “And the majority, I would say … was people traveling up and down the interstate, stopping at Cracker Barrel or what-have-you.”
However, there will probably be resistance, especially from some of the restaurants in the area, added Bryant, who also works at Hot Diggity Dog.
(For the rest of the story, check out this week's edition of the Cadiz Record.)
