Boston parking-meter fee, hotel tax increases likely to hit out-of-towners hardest

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has proposed both increasing the city’s parking-meter fees for the first time since 2009 and increasing taxes on hotel stays and short-term rentals.

The hotel and rental tax would inch up 0.5 percent, and the parking-meter fees would go from $1.25 an hour to at least $2 an hour and to as high as $3.75 an hour in Back Bay and the Seaport District. The new fees would take effect July 1.

Both moves—the tax increase and the fee increase—would fall particularly heavily on out-of-towners. They’re likelier to stay in hotels and short-term rentals, and to use parking meters, especially downtown.

At the same time, Walsh’s administration decided not to consider charging for residential parking passes this city budget cycle, per the Globe’s Adam Vaccaro. The easy availability of residential parking passes for Boston residents is one of the reasons that traffic hereabouts is so congested.

As for the fee and tax increases, the city plans to use the revenue from those in part to address Boston’s homelessness and other housing issues.