Senate To Debate Dorgan Bill To Fund American Tourism Advertising By Taxing Foreign Visitors

In a bill so dumb it could only have been introduced by North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, a “non-profit corporation” would be created by the Senate to promote tourism in America. And it would be funded by a $10 tax on foreign visitors to the country.
Because nothing says “visit America” like “have your entry tax ready at the border.”

And the Senate will start off the week with a bill to create a nonprofit corporation to promote tourism to the United States, to be called the Corporation for Travel Promotion.
The nonprofit company would be financed in part by a new $10 fee on foreign travelers visiting the United States.

So the Senate is now founding companies now? If the Senate wants to promote tourism, couldn’t they just create some agency in an existing branch of government or something? The State Department, maybe? I don’t think the Senate has any more business starting nonprofit corporations than the federal government has business owning a majority stake in Chrysler, General Motors, Citigroup, etc.
Not that I think the federal government, which is currently overseeing a bankrupted budget, should be spending any time worrying about promoting tourism whether it be through a government agency or a non-profit corporation. You often see states pass taxes that will apply to visiting tourists in order to fund more tourism promotion, and it’s about the most counterproductive thing in the world.
It doesn’t work on the state level, and it won’t work on the federal level. And, really, I doubt very much that this is so much about promoting tourism as its about a spendaholic government looking for another way to feed its habit.