Taxing sales to tourists over time

An optimal control model shows how a jurisdiction can tax tourists in a way that maximizes its revenues net of its costs in serving tourists: By relating its tax rate to its popularity with tourists. When its popularity waxes, it should raise the tax rate; when its popularity wanes, it should lower the tax rate. Extensions consider the e ects on the tax of the discount rate, tourist prices, tourist congestion, and of the rise in the relative cost of services that is due to rising productivity in manufacturing. Computer simulations generate a concave tax path for a small city launching a tourism program.