From the state's or locality's perspective, I would think that they would then have a vested interest in banning resort fees, seeing them as a tax evasion tool. Their position could be "You're forcing this service on every guest in the hotel. Therefore, it's no different than providing pillows and sheets. Therefore, we should be able to tax it."

From the client perspective, I'd rather pay the full hospitality tax on a room rate that has been disclosed to me than have a property jam me on the back end with an extra $25/day and attempt to get cozy with me by saying "We concealed it from everyone, including you, in order to help you evade a couple bucks' worth of taxes."

As for the "Announcements" pages, the big problem there is that data usually doesn't carry forward to all possible channels through which a guest might book a room. If you aren't on SPG.com, Marriott.com, or Hilton.com, you probably never see any of the text that properties put into "special" rate rules. We Flyertalkers tend to book through our preferred chain's home site, but I suspect most of the world still uses Orbitz, Expedia, etc. I've checked before - I know that hidden fees usually do not show up at all on those sites. (Same holds true for certain bogus rental car and airline fees - it's not just a hotel thing.)