FAQs
- Hotels, motels and other lodging or camping facilities
- Restaurants, fast food stores and other food service establishments
- Taverns, bars, night clubs, lounges or other public establishments that serve alcohol
- Destination ski resorts or other destination recreational facilities
- Other luxuries sold in the resort area
- Red Lodge
- Virginia City
- West Yellowstone
- Whitefish
- Big Sky
- Cooke City
- Craig
- Gardiner
- St. Regis
- Wolf Creek
- Columbia Falls (passed in 2020 and implemented in 2021)
Who makes the decision on whether the resort tax is implemented?
After a committee of community members determines the boundaries of the proposed district, the Montana Department of Commerce must designate a community (incorporated) or area (unincorporated) as a resort. This means the major portion of an area’s economy must be based on tourism. The analysis is intensive, and it must happen before a vote. If an area doesn’t meet the state’s criteria, it is not eligible for a voter-approved resort tax. If the community or area is designated as a resort area, the voters in the resort area must then approve the tax; it cannot be imposed upon a community or area without a vote.
Who would vote on the tax?
Only voters within the boundary of a designated Lolo Resort Area would vote on the tax. It would not appear on ballots anywhere else in Missoula County.
Where could such a tax be collected?
For an unincorporated community like Lolo, only the qualifying items sold in the resort district boundary can be taxed.
What can be taxed?
The community driven petition would need to include what specific items would be taxed. The following items are allowed by state statute to be taxed:
Does the tax have to be in place all year round?
The petition and the ballot initiative language that voters would have to improve would specify when the tax would go into effect and when it would be in place during the year. For example, communities could choose to only have the tax in place during the summer tourism season.
What can the money be spent on, and where?
The revenue could pay for anything in the resort area district that’s permitted in the resolution. Examples include improvements and maintenance to roads, sewer and water systems.
What places in Montana have a resort tax?
The following areas currently have resort taxes of 3%:
Why can't this be done in the City of Missoula or Missoula County as a whole?
According to state law, this tax can only be implemented in incorporated communities with fewer than 5,500 people, or unincorporated communities with fewer than 2,500 people.