Lodging Tax Bill Defeated, But Effort Continues

An attempt to increase the lodging tax collections in the state failed at the Wyoming Legislative Session this month.
Claudia Wade with the Park County Travel Council explained that a proposed tax increase came out of a need to fund the Wyoming Office of Tourism. She said that members of the tourism industry had proposed a one percent tax for restaurants, lodging properties, and other businesses that benefit from tourism, expanding the net to bring income from sources other than just lodging.
However, in the meantime, Senator Eli Bebout introduced a statewide four percent lodging tax, two percent of which would go to the office of tourism, while two percent would go to the local lodging tax boards.
Wade said that one of the concerns about that bill from those in the tourism industry was that to fund the office of tourism, a two percent tax on lodging alone would not be enough.

However, Wade says that the good thing that came out of this attempt was that the legislature has agreed to do an interim study on the benefits of a statewide lodging tax, which will continue the conversation to include other options.