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

/in , /by
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

/in , , /by
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

/in , , /by
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

/in , , , /by
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

/in , , /by
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

/in , , , , /by
The rebate program had been in effect for 41 years before lawmakers canned it in 2016 in the midst of a mineral bust.
Wyoming is one of two states that have neither a corporate income tax nor a gross receipts tax.

Hang on to your hats: The Wyoming State Legislature is seriously considering a “big box” corporate income tax

/in , , /by
A proposed corporate income tax on "big box" stores like Walmart would not raise prices for consumers, but it would generate tens of millions of dollars per year for Wyoming schools. Is that enough to get it past the radically anti-tax Wyoming State Senate?
Smoke 'em while they're cheap!

House advances bill to increase Wyoming’s tobacco taxes

/in , , /by
Supporters said that higher tobacco taxes discourage kids from starting to smoke, and that non-smokers end up paying for smokers' healthcare costs.
The Wyoming State Legislature's Oil King

Senate Committee chaired by Eli Bebout advances an oil tax break that would benefit Eli Bebout

/in , , /by
Spoiler alert: The bill is also co-sponsored by Eli Bebout. Who says a Wyoming State Legislator can't get a little something for himself?
Bonnie, a grocery store clerk in Douglas, pays a far higher tax rate than any Jackson billionaire

New report: Low-income residents in Wyoming pay an effective tax rate more than three times higher than the state’s wealthiest One Percent

/in /by
Wyoming's lack of an income tax means the rich get a free ride.