OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Oklahoma got in line behind Florida and San Antonio, Texas, in an effort to collect taxes from out-of-state travel companies, court papers show.
The state filed a lawsuit against a variety of online travel firms, including Priceline.com, Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity, to recoup millions of dollars in taxes the state says it is owed for hotel room bookings, The Oklahoman reported Wednesday.
The lawsuit says the online companies use a variety of methods to avoid paying their full share to the state, including paying taxes and a wholesale tax rate, the newspaper said.
Florida and several cities in Texas have filed similar lawsuits, but Interactive Travel Services Association spokesman Andrew Weinstein said most of the cases fail.
A spokesman for Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said, "We believe some out-of-state firms have not paid their appropriate state sales tax bill and have essentially shorted Oklahoma taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars," the newspaper reported.
