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.

Wyoming lawmakers look to Medicaid, As state money dries up

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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.
The program was funded with $4.2 million in 2016. A new bill asked for $2.3 million to be restored. Instead, it will get $625,000.

Wyoming Senate guts funding from a tax rebate program for elderly and disabled poor folks

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Tens of thousands of people depended on the rebates prior to the Legislature’s ending the program in 2016. An effort to bring it back fizzled. Less than 15 percent of its funding will be restored.
Sens. Bill Landen, Cale Case, and Wendy Schuler

Wyoming Senate committee praises “big box” corporate income tax proposal … and then kills it

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Three members of the five-person committee spoke positively about the bill. But so much opposition had built up against it in the Senate, the committee chairman decided it wasn’t even worth a vote.
Recipients would receive refunds between $200 - 900.

Wyoming Legislature moves to reinstate tax rebate program for elderly and disabled poor folks

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The rebate program had been in effect for 41 years before lawmakers canned it in 2016 in the midst of a mineral bust.