House Bill 231 proved to be unpopular during the 2026 Legislative General Session.
It would have repealed a sales tax that local governments impose on restaurant tabs and replaced it with a more general sales tax.
The 75-member Utah House rejected it by a 2-to-1 margin, Deputy Summit County Manager Janna Young said.
“Some really strong opposition to that,” Young told the Summit County Council earlier in March. “We had a lot of support from other counties, as well as even our own citizens, including Oakley City and some residents who reached out wanting to help fight against this. The Park City Chamber of Commerce was also very involved, and the tourism groups.”
The opposition, at least locally, stemmed from the fact that the restaurant tax funds a grant program for events and nonprofits in Summit County.
Park City Chamber President and CEO Jennifer Wesslehoff called keeping the restaurant tax “a big win.”
“For the state, [the restaurant tax] is about a $90 million economic impact,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” March 23. “For us here in Summit County, we generate about $5 million in that restaurant tax."
County staff estimate that up to a little over 60% of sales tax revenue, in general, comes from nonresidents or tourists versus primary residents.
HB231’s sponsor, Utah County GOP Rep. Norman Thurston, previously told KPCW that restaurant taxes also hit working people strapped for cash and time, not just tourists interested in fine dining.
His proposed replacement, a general sales tax, would’ve been calculated to generate the same amount of revenue for local governments as the old restaurant tax.
Last year, Summit County’s restaurant tax grant funded programming on Park City’s Main Street, the Oakley rodeo, Kamas Fiesta Days, parades in Coalville and other events. That includes KPCW events like Skate Your Groove Thing at the Park City Ice Arena.
