By james art 
Taxes are a great focus that state legislators have this year. More than 60 submitted bills seek to fix taxes that we, as humans and companies, pay, of ownership, coal, production, to cars. We wanted a big picture to take advantage of how these accounts could play from each other, so Jordan Upling of Wyoming Public Radio went to the Wyoming Taxpayer Association (WTA).
WTA is a group for research and advocacy since 1937. It lobbying for a tax system that is justified, fair, stable and transparent For people and businesses in Wyoming.
“We are here to train and understand all the taxes that pay, and what these go, “said Hank Urusland, CEO of the Association. Uplinger started by asking him which of the almost 70 accounts that the Association is tracking, he pays special attention.
Editor’s note: This interview was slightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Hank Hoversland: Housing taxes are a major issue considered by the legislature this year. I think people need to understand what property taxes are and what they fund. So, we monitor many accounts of ownership tax on residential property.
But I would say about the taxpayer Association, a bill we believe is good, which corresponds to our cornerstones of taxation, is a reduction in the tax rate of coal benefit up to 6%, just to bring it to an evenly useful field And even for this, the game of taxes for compensation for all our mineral industries.
Jordan Uplinger: There are two important accounts that you touched there. It is obvious that the tax on coal interruption will be started with this, and then I want to move on to this bill on property tax, which is some controversial. With the tax on the compensation of coal, Home Account 75 It would reduce the tax rate of compensation on surface coal from 6.5% to 6%. Can you only explain a little more detail why this is, in my opinion, the only bill at the time of the tracker on your website, which has clear support on it?
Zn: Coal is the highest tax mineral for the purposes of taxes on compensation. So it’s 6.5%. Its competitors in oil and natural gas decrease in the range of 6%. So entering it in competition for this is something we think is important because we want to have fair taxes on every mineral. And so we think this is a good proposal for a policy that was brought,
JU: The reduction of the tax rate for coal compensation is expected to lead Nearly $ 10 million less In tax revenue next year for the General Fund, the Budget Reserve Account and the Program of the Foundation of the School. In 2027, it will be more like $ 8 million less. The Taxpayer Association also tracks a number of accounts for relief or property tax reform.
Zn: So there are two competitive bills that are currently underway. So House bill 169 has crossed the house and this bill has a 50% release from single -family residence structures, up to the first millions of dollars fair market value. This has a filling in it, but this is only for half of the lost revenue.
Senate file 69 On the other hand, it is the same 50% exemption from the first millions of dollars fair market value, but it includes both land and structure. And the Senate Committee of the entire bill has removed the filling. We believe it is important for people to understand where their property taxes go. He goes to local authorities and provides services that are closest to people. So the state providing filling will be a major debate that will have to be settled between the two chambers. But I think these two bills, while they have similar ideas, will have competitive interests in filling the local authorities and these services
JU: So would WTA do it? Is this a controversial way to ensure relief?
Zn: We have no position of filling and where it can come from. There are competitive accounts that are there, and they are something like mirror accounts, but they are a little different. The Senate Dossier is Senate Dossier 153S What he does is that he creates a definition of the limitation of what is residential real estate. It also retains the ratio of residential and owner’s assessment of the owner’s subclass at 9.5%. The bill of the houseOn the other hand, it is slightly different as it changes the ratio of the assessment for residential and owner, occupied subclass up to 8.3%. These are differences and I think this is one of the ways in which the legislature can also provide relief.
JU: These are also the accounts you are according to WTA, you are still watching. You still don’t necessarily maintain these accounts?
Zn: Properly, we do not support and do not oppose many of these accounts, but we observe them because they affect the tax base in Wyoming.
JU: Only one kind of wider note will we enter both the federal and the state level here, an era of new conservatism. Do you think that by moving forward, we will see more accounts, more politicians moving to reduce taxes where they can, or do you think there is some difficult line in which you really cannot dramatically affect public services?
Zn: I think we saw this in 2024, so we have this new era and this new guidance in the legislature. And do you know what? We welcome new ideas all the time. We believe that considering the whole tax structure and the tax system is a good idea. We have seen those promises from the chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee and look forward to working with him and the Joint Revenue Committee in this intermediate, as they accept this bold idea of reforming the Wyoming tax structure. We think we want to be part of this conversation.
Returning to their question in the election, I think people need to understand [is] That these taxes pay for services, ownership taxes are large, they pay for local services. Take, for example, colleges in the community. If they start losing some of these property tax revenue, they will need to find other ways to increase their revenue and this may be on the back of those students who will create Wyoming’s workforce. So this will be an increase in training or something. If citizens begin to feel this reduction in services with not complete filling or different things like this, I think it can affect the voters and how they feel. So this is something that will play for sure in the future. And we will work to educate the public on this and continue to train and give good healthy research and numbers to legislators and the public so that they understand what these services are and what the taxes are paid.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the public broadcast corporation supporting the state’s coverage in the country. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole’s public radio are partnering to cover government problems both on the air and online.