Room Tax

Wisconsin’s Room Tax was originally created in 1967. At the time, the lodging industry supported the small industry-specific tax as a vehicle to pool resources for marketing and promoting local tourism. Today room tax is an incredibly important tool for creating a strong tourism industry in our municipalities. Unfortunately, we often find municipalities who are unintentionally raiding room tax funds that are meant to bring tourists to their communities, which will in turn cause a decline in tourism and further erode the overall room tax revenue coming into the city - it’s a vicious cycle.
 
WHLA is here as a resource for municipal officials, staff, hoteliers, and others who want to learn about the proper use of room tax. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our experts to make sure that the room tax law is being followed in your community.

Resources

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• Room Tax Statute 66.0615

• How Can Room Tax Be Spent

• Tourism Commission Overview

• Tourism Entity Overview

• Wisconsin Local Room Tax Model

• Local Government Revenue Options

• Clarification on Confidentiality of Room Tax Information

• Checking In: A Look at Wisconsin Room Tax Trends

• Archive: Room Taxes and Tourism Development

Wisconsin Municipality Room Tax Reports

​Each municipality imposing a room tax must file an annual report on their room tax collections and expenditures with the state Department of Revenue. These reports can be searched and viewed by municipality for the past two years on the WI Department of Revenue's website.