Porterville, CA Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)

Chapter 22, Article III of the Porterville Municipal Code, titled the Uniform Transient Occupancy Tax Law of the City of Porterville, defines a taxable "hotel" as any structure or portion of one occupied or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging, or sleeping, a definition broad enough to reach hotels, inns, tourist homes, motels, bachelor hotels, lodging houses, rooming houses, apartment houses, dormitories, and mobile homes or house trailers at a fixed location. Section 22-12 sets the tax at eight percent (8%) of the rent charged, payable by the transient to the operator at the time rent is paid, or directly to the City's tax administrator if the operator does not collect it.

Section 22-14 puts the collection mechanics on the operator: the tax must be collected at the same time as rent, stated separately from the room charge on the guest's receipt, and the operator may never advertise or claim that the tax will be absorbed into the room rate or waived. A handful of narrow exemptions apply under Section 22-13, covering occupancies the county lacks power to tax, certain foreign government employees, and any stay where the total rent is under two dollars ($2.00) a day.