Cost of campgrounds

mowermech wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

mowermech wrote:

DownTheAvenue wrote:

jeffcarp wrote:

But what's truly amazing are the taxes. I make a habit to look at my receipt every time I check out of a hotel and look at the total taxes. Even at the low end of hotel costs $125-$150, a single night's taxes will pay for most campground nights in full.

Politicians have learned that taxing hotel room charges, as well as rental car fees is a way to raise money without invoking anger from their constituents, as those taxes are almost always paid for by visitors.

They have now discovered campgrounds, and camping fees are being taxed in some areas, too.

Yes, and I really detest having to pay a "bed tax" to sleep in my own bed!
Perhaps that is why I rarely stay at a commercial RV park, preferring State Parks and USFS campgrounds, even though there are usually no hookups and no dump station, and I often have to take my garbage home with me ("Pack It In, Pack It Out"; no garbage service, either).
On a side note, it is surprising how little water one can use, and how little garbage one can generate given sufficient incentive!

If it makes you feel better, in Montana it's called a Lodging Facilities Tax and a Resort Tax. Some of the funds go to regional marketing groups within the state to promote tourism. Some of the funds are added to the State General Fund and some of the funds (resort tax portion) goes to the local area to fund infrastructure etc. There is logic to these taxes. Tourists do use local and state services and otherwise pay no taxes in Montana. (Montana does not have a sales tax). These taxes help take the burden of providing those services to tourists off of the residents of the state.

I should probably just consider the source, and let it go, but sometimes a response just can't be held back...
Thank you EVER so much for that explanation. I have only been a Montana resident since I was 7 years old (1948), and a Yellowstone County resident for only the last 12 years. Obviously, I could not be expected to know such things from such limited experience.
A "bed tax" by any other name is still a bed tax! Yes, I have heard all the "it will be paid mostly by tourists" arguments. Those of us who live here get bit by those taxes, too. Sure, we are "tourists" when we go to Kalispell or Great Falls, but we are RESIDENT tourists.
Our legislators never saw a tax they didn't like. For instance, the "Ferrari Tax" on vehicles costing over $150,000. Bah, humbug! Yes, I know, it was changed to a flat rate instead of a percentage of value.
I know quite well that Montana has no sales tax (well, actually, on a limited basis there is, but only in some areas. It, too, is supposedly paid by "tourists".) Every year, when I do my tax returns, I wish there was a sales tax instead of the income tax. But then, the legislators would go crazy at budget time, because the tax is Constitutionally limited to 4%, and the Constitution also mandates a balanced budget!
Oh, the horror!

Hey, you are the one who was upset at paying a "bed tax" to sleep in your own bed. Well, it's a "Lodging Facilities Tax" and you can't argue you are sleeping in your own lodging facility. And it really doesn't matter where a state gets it's tax revenue from, be it sales tax, income tax, lodging tax, property tax etc. They will all demand and get their pound of flesh.