The 3% tax is due on rentals to ALL persons -- including employees of federal, state or local governments -- with the sole exception of “permanent residents”—individuals who occupy a room for a period exceeding 30 consecutive days.
Delaware County’s 3% Hotel Tax should not be confused Pennsylvania’s State Hotel Tax of 6% on room rentals (and meals). Unlike the county’s tax, the State tax exempts rentals to ambassadors, ministers, consular officers and federal employees on official business.
The two taxes are separate and the exemptions from the state tax do not apply to the County’s hotel tax.
The Charter defines a "Permanent Resident as "Any individual person who has occupied or has the right to occupy any room or rooms in a hotel as a patron or otherwise for a period exceeding 30 consecutive days; the term "permanent resident" shall not include any patron or business entity which reserves a room or rooms, whether specified or unspecified, in any hotel unless said room or rooms are each used by the same individual person for a period exceeding 30 consecutive days. See Pennsylvania's Hotel Occupancy Tax, 72 P.S. § 7210, the Tax Reform Code of 1971.