Travel Sites Sued Over Taxes

The next destination for travel sites Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Cheap Tickets, Orbitz and Priceline is the courtroom. The city of San Diego claims that the sites underpaid the accommodation charges for booking rooms there.

The lawsuit alleges thatExpedia et al paid its tax based on the wholesale price of rooms, even though customers may have paid taxes based on the full price of a room.

Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia have also filed similar lawsuits, which are all pending in court. Don't they have computers and programs that should be able to automate this process? "We have a room for you with an excellent view of concrete and three meals per day included."