★ Proposed Pilot Location · Hocking County, OH

America's first
Tourist Dividend
starts here.

4 million visitors. 28,000 residents. $163 million in annual tourism spending. The math is simple. The politics are winnable. The legal pathway is clear. This is where it begins.

Take Action → Full Calculator FAQ
Live Dividend Calculator — Hocking County
Household size
1%3%5%
Per person / year
Per month (equiv.)
Of median income
Total fund / year
By the Numbers

The Hocking County case, in data

$163M
Annual Tourism
Official ExploreHockingHills report ✓
4M+
Annual Visitors
vs. 27,938 county residents
40%+
Tourism Growth
Since 2019 — and accelerating
$61K
Median Income
$282/person = real money here

Hocking Hills State Park is the second most-visited Ohio state park. Old Man's Cave alone draws over a million people annually. The county's cabin inventory has grown dramatically since 2019 — an Airbnb and VRBO boom driven almost entirely by out-of-county investors acquiring and converting residential properties into short-term rentals.

The result is predictable: housing stock shrinks, rents rise, roads deteriorate faster, and EMS runs harder — while the county's general fund captures almost none of the economic windfall. What lodging tax revenue does exist is channeled to the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which uses it to market Hocking Hills to more visitors.

This is the cycle the Tourist Dividend breaks. Instead of taxing tourists to bring more tourists, the dividend taxes tourists to compensate the residents who make the destination worth visiting.

Projected Growth @ 8%/yr
2026 ★
$282
2027
$305
2028
$329
2029
$355
2030
$384
2032
$447
2035
$563
Per-person dividend at 5% rate, 8% annual tourism growth. Today's dividend is the floor, not the ceiling.
Resident Impact

What it means for real families

At 5% — the proposed rate — Hocking County residents would receive $282 per person annually. Here is what that means for four different households, all real archetypes of who lives in this county.

Family of Four — Service Worker Household
Two adults, two school-age children. One parent works at a Hocking Hills cabin company, one at the hospital in Logan. Combined income ~$58,000.
$1,128
Annual household dividend
Full winter's heating oil (~$900)
School fees and supplies for both kids
Still $128 left over
Retired Couple
Both retired, fixed income, own their home in Logan. Living on Social Security and modest savings. Annual household income ~$38,000.
$564
Annual household dividend
6+ months of prescription costs
Property tax on a modest home
Emergency car repair fund
Single Parent, Two Kids
Single mother, three-person household. Works in healthcare in Athens. Renting in Hocking County. Income ~$42,000. Rent is $875/month.
$846
Annual household dividend
Nearly one full month of rent
Full year of car insurance
Back-to-school shopping covered
Individual Resident
Single adult, works in retail or food service locally. Income ~$28,000. Renting. Feels the full weight of tourism costs every peak weekend.
$282
Annual per-person dividend
One month of utilities
Annual car registration + inspection
Emergency fund contribution
Why Residents Deserve Compensation

The costs tourism imposes

Tourism generates enormous economic activity in Hocking County. It also imposes specific, measurable costs on residents that no existing policy addresses.

🚑
Emergency Services Strain
EMS calls for tourist incidents — cliff rescues, hiking accidents, vehicle crashes on rural roads — consume an estimated 20% of Hocking County emergency resources during peak seasons.
~20% of EMS
🏠
Housing Cost Inflation
Out-of-county investors have converted dozens of residential properties to short-term rentals since 2019. Rental inventory for long-term tenants has shrunk while prices have increased.
Rental stock ↓
🛣️
Infrastructure Degradation
Rural roads built for light local traffic now carry millions of additional vehicle miles annually. Hocking County road repair budgets have not kept pace with tourism-driven wear.
4M+ visitor trips
🛒
Weekend Livability
Peak autumn weekends see traffic delays of 30–60 minutes on routes that normally take 10 minutes. Grocery stores and gas stations in Logan experience surge congestion that residents cannot avoid.
30–60 min delays
💼
Wage Suppression
Tourism-sector jobs that replaced manufacturing work pay median wages 20–40% lower, with seasonal hour cuts in January and February. The dividend partially offsets this structural wage gap.
20–40% wage gap
🌲
Commons Extraction
The trails, hills, waterways, and natural character of Hocking County are a shared resource belonging to all residents. Visitors extract value from that commons daily — the dividend is the community's royalty.
$163M extracted
Legal Pathway

How it gets done — legally

Ohio is the clearest legal pathway for a Tourist Dividend in the United States. Most states restrict lodging tax revenue to "tourism promotion" purposes — but Ohio's municipal lodging tax statute is notably different.

ORC §5739.08(A) — The Key Statute

Ohio Revised Code Section 5739.08(A) authorizes any Ohio municipal corporation to levy an excise tax on lodging for "any lawful purpose." This language has no tourism-use restriction. It does not require voter approval. It requires only a majority vote of the municipal legislative authority — the city council.

ORC §5739.08(A): "The legislative authority of any municipal corporation may levy an excise tax on transactions by which lodging is furnished to transient guests... for any lawful purpose of the municipal corporation."

The City of Logan — Hocking County's county seat, population ~6,800 — is the most direct implementation vehicle. Logan City Council could pass a dividend ordinance with a simple majority vote. No state legislation required. No county commissioner approval required. No voter referendum required.

This is not a loophole or a legal theory. It is the plain text of Ohio law, analyzed against the legal frameworks of all 26 communities in our research. Ohio's municipal statute is the most permissive found anywhere in the United States for this purpose.

Feasibility Comparison
Ohio (Municipal) HIGH
Massachusetts HIGH
Missouri (Home Rule) MED
Tennessee LOW
Florida LOW
Legal feasibility based on lodging tax use restrictions, home rule authority, gift clause exposure, and ballot initiative availability.
Take Action

How to make this happen

The Logan City Council has the legal authority to implement this today. These are the practical tools to make it happen — commissioner contacts, a draft email, and what to say at a public meeting.

Contact the Hocking County Board of Commissioners and Logan City Council. A personal email or phone call is worth 100 online signatures. Be polite, be specific, be local.

Hocking County Commissioners
Board of Commissioners — Hocking County
🌐 Official Website → 📞 (740) 385-3895 📍 1 E Main St, Logan OH
City of Logan
Logan City Council — Primary Legal Pathway
🌐 LoganCity.org → 📞 (740) 385-2174 📍 10 S Mulberry St, Logan OH
Ohio State Representatives
State-Level Advocacy — Hocking County District
🌐 Find Your Rep → 📺 Ohio Channel (hearings)

Copy, personalize with your name and street, and send to Logan City Council or the Board of Commissioners. Personalized emails carry more weight than form letters.

Use these at a public meeting, on social media, or when talking to neighbors. Stick to facts. Be specific about Hocking County numbers.

The money is there — $163M in tourism every year ▼
"Hocking Hills generated $163 million in tourism spending last year — that's official, from the county's own tourism bureau. At 5%, a simple surcharge would create an $8.1 million annual fund. That's enough to write every county resident a check. The money exists. We're just not capturing it for residents."
Ohio law already allows this — no state action needed ▼
"Ohio Revised Code §5739.08(A) is the key statute. It says any Ohio municipality can levy a lodging excise tax for 'any lawful purpose.' That language is not an accident — it's the most permissive in the country. Logan City Council can do this with a majority vote. We don't need Columbus."
Alaska has been doing this for 40 years — it works ▼
"Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend has paid every Alaskan an equal annual check since 1982. It was created by a Republican governor. It's been raised by governors of both parties. No one has ever seriously proposed ending it. In 2024 it paid $1,702 per person. We're proposing the same model — different resource, same principle."
This won't hurt tourism — and may help it ▼
"A 3–5% surcharge on a $200/night cabin adds $6–$10. Nobody cancels a Hocking Hills trip over $8. But residents who feel fairly compensated for tourism's costs are much less likely to push for visitor caps, STR bans, or other restrictions that would actually hurt the industry. The dividend makes tourism politically sustainable."
This is not welfare — it's a property rights argument ▼
"The hills, trails, and natural character of Hocking County belong to its residents collectively. When tourism operators profit from bringing visitors to that landscape, they're extracting value from our commons. The dividend is our royalty — the same logic as an oil company paying landowners for drilling rights. It's not redistribution. It's compensation."
TouristDividend.org
Home Locations Calculator FAQ About Contact
✓ Copied to clipboard!