NEW YORK, NY June 29, 2009 —Mayor Bloomberg will sign a bill into law today that should bring in a lot of additional tax revenue for the city. The measure affects the booking of hotel rooms over the internet. The bill requires travel sites to always pay taxes on the full retail prices of the rooms they sell.

The city believes it's currently collecting less hotel tax than it should. That's because some travel websites pay hotel taxes based on the wholesale rate of the rooms they buy. Then, the websites charge their customers the same hotel tax on retail room rates, and pocket the difference.

A trade group representing travel web sites says the change is, quote, "exactly the wrong approach", and will result in more vacant hotel rooms.