By Cowboy State Daily (updated Feb. 25, 2019 at 7PM)
A measure that would have imposed a statewide 5 percent tax on hotel and motel stays was killed by the Senate on Monday.
Senators voted 19-7 against HB 66, a measure seen as a way to finance the state Tourism Division without dipping into the state’s main bank account.
The bill would impose a 5 percent lodging tax across the state. Money from percent of the tax — estimated at $19 million a year — would have been used to pay for the activities of the state Tourism Division. The division would have received no more money from the state’s main bank account, called the “General Fund.”
The money from the other 2 percent of the tax would have gone to counties to replace tax income lost when their local lodging taxes expired.
Supporters promoted the statewide tax as a way to collect money from visitors to Wyoming to pay for tourism promotion. But opponents questioned the cost the tax would add to the expense of a hotel or motel stay.
