[olliej]

If you're comparing prices currently you see two prices advertised:

Company A: $100

Company B: $140

Company C: $150

Company D: $155

Currently, when you go to buy from any of these companies they all add the hypothetical 10% taxes you would be required to pay, but company A also adds $60 in "service fees", Company B adds $20, Company C adds $10, and company D becomes the cheapest.

If you remove the bullshit fees the advertised prices are falsely excluding then the advertised prices give you the actual real relative position.

Hence there is value in this law, even if it doesn't force the taxes to be included.

Now your example of hotels is a worthwhile extension to this, where you could say "if the location of the purchase or service is fixed, the listed price must include all applicable taxes", but there's a clear benefit to banning the BS "fees".

This is ignoring the whole tax avoidance/evasion I believe these "fees" are also being used for.