Going to the mattresses over the bed tax

Dan Bucks, the director of the Montana Department of Revenue, recently went online to check out hotel prices in Billings, the state’s most populous city, which is some 250 miles from his office in Helena. Bucks had no immediate plans to make the four-hour drive east. Instead, he wanted to check out his theory that online travel sites were shortchanging the state of Montana.

The travel sites and Montana officials, led by Governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, have been at loggerheads for months over the state’s bed tax on hotel stays. Schweitzer publicly rebuked Sam Gilliland, the head of Travelocity’s parent company, during a September visit that Gilliland paid to Montana to launch an effort to promote tourism in the state.

By Daniel C. Vock, Stateline Staff Writer

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