With few other viable options for revenue, that big pot of Medicaid expansion money is looking better and better.

Revenue Committee to consider non-tax proposal to bring hundreds of millions of public dollars to Wyoming

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A bill to expand Medicaid would help close the state’s sizeable budget shortfall (and it would help poor people get healthcare, too).
Without decisive action from state leadership, staying strong is about all folks in coal-dependent places like Gillette can hope to do.

Wyoming’s woeful response to coal’s collapse

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As the coal industry falters, costing Wyoming hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost revenues, state leaders struggle to act.
Tax experts dismissed the argument that the tax would violate either the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause or the Wyoming State Constitution's Uniformity Clause.

Opponents of a proposed Wyoming corporate income tax say it’s unconstitutional. They’re wrong.

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Naysayers who don’t want to admit they support Walmart over Wyoming schools are using a bogus technical argument.
Wyoming misses out on millions of dollars the federal government offers us.

Wyoming lawmakers have a “cultural bias” against accepting federal funds

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When times are good, no one questions whether the Legislature’s refusal to accept federal funding is wise. But as Wyoming’s budget problems continue, those questions are beginning to arise.
Wyoming lawmakers capped special education spending in 2018, leaving school districts wondering how to cover the costs of services children need.

As state money for special education dries up, Wyoming looks to Medicaid

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Dwindling mineral revenues threaten Wyoming’s ability to provide costly special education services. Legislators can pursue federal Medicaid funds to help, like most states do. But they’re learning there’s no such thing as easy money.
National corporations suck money out of Wyoming communities. A proposed corporate income tax would capture a small slice of corporate profits for Wyoming schools while sparing Mom and Pop shops.

Proposal would help stop corporations from sucking profits out of Wyoming

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Corporations demand public services, but in Wyoming they don’t help pay for them. A new proposal advanced by the Legislature’s Revenue Committee last week would change that, while raising much-needed funding for Wyoming schools.
The pursuit of beaver fur brought trappers West to Wyoming in the early days of European settlement. Those trappers adapted when the fur trade went south.

What Wyoming can learn about coal from the collapse of the fur trade

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When the world switched from beaver-skin hats to silk hats in the 1800s, the fur trade plummeted. Instead of doubling down on pelts, smart fur-bearing states developed new industries.
The coal industry's downturn has cost the state of Wyoming nearly a third its budget. What happens if other carbon-based industries follow it down?

Climate change creeps into Wyo Legislature tax reform talks

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The Revenue Committee’s co-chair asked tax reform opponents: What happens if Wyoming continues to depend on revenues from carbon-based minerals while the rest of the world moves away from them?
Lawmakers put a bullet in each and every tax bill that came before them.

Wyoming Legislature shoots down “big box” corporate income tax and all other revenue-generating bills — 2019 Legislative recap

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You got a tax bill? The Legislature has a bullet. Along with the “big box” tax, lawmakers killed proposals to “modernize” Wyoming’s sales tax structure, tax tourism to promote the tourism industry, increase cigarette taxes, and every other tax-related bill this year.
Bebout awoke to news that the tax break he'd tried to give himself and other oil bosses hadn't made it through the night.

Bebout’s tax break for oil companies dies an 11th-hour quiet death

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On an absurdly late final night of the 2019 session, Bebout went home before the House and Senate could hash out disagreements over his proposed oil tax break. In Bebout’s absence, the bill sputtered and died.