Wyoming legislators endorse lodging tax proposal

A bill that would levy a 5 percent lodging tax in Wyoming has won the endorsement of a legislative panel.

The bill endorsed Thursday by the Joint Revenue Committee will be presented to the full Legislature when it meets in January.

Before approving the proposal, the committee wrestled with how to account for cities and counties that already levy a lodging tax. The concern was that the new statewide tax would impose too high of a tax burden.

The panel decided the best solution was to delay part of the statewide tax in jurisdictions with lodging taxes until those local taxes expire.

Under the proposal, 3 percent of the statewide tax will fund tourism promotion efforts. The other 2 percent of the tax will go to local governments.