Alachua County, Petitioners v. Expedia, Inc., Respondents

Summary

The Court approved the First District’s decision and held that Florida’s Tourist Development Tax applies only to the transient rental amount set and received by the hotel, not to an online travel company’s markup or service fee. Reading the Tourist Development Tax and Transient Rental Tax statutes together, the Court concluded that the statutes do not clearly impose tax on the full amount charged to customers by online travel companies. Justice Pariente concurred in the result but viewed the statute as ambiguous and relied on construction in favor of taxpayers; Justice Lewis, joined by Justice Polston, would have taxed the full amount charged under the merchant model.