Property tax burden too much

Property taxes shooting up 50%, 70%, 90% in a single year — or 337% in four years, depending on what properties sold in a neighborhood — shows just how broken Wyoming’s tax structure is.

While claiming to be staunchly anti-tax, Wyoming lawmakers are taxing some residents at these exponential, eye-popping rates.

Skyrocketing bills illustrate the need for the Legislature to find new ways to pay for schools and other basic needs.

Historically, new taxes have been shot down.

Legislators won’t tax personal income.

They won’t tax corporate income.

They won’t tax real estate transactions.

They won’t tax unearned income — money people make off investments.

Wyoming pays its bills by leaning on four main pots of money by taxing: property (41%), general sales (31%), oil and gas (21%), and assorted things (7%) like fuel, tobacco, alcohol, insurance premiums and wind power.

So the heftiest tax burden for most residents is property tax. In theory the law for how to calculate property tax makes sense. Tax properties equitably based on fair market value. But that approach really stumbles when a real estate market turns volatile with purchases driven by panicked out-of-state buyers who sought a haven to ride out the pandemic. That overheated an already sizzling market.

The dramatic increase in real estate sales prices creates a brutal outcome for those who aren’t actively buying and selling. So as some buyers purchase homes here to dodge income taxes in their home states by living here six months and one day, working families trying to buy a home or retirees trying to stay in their homes are being pummeled. And landlords often pass the tax increase on to renters.

Wyoming also taxes short-term lodging but dictates that the bulk of that money be spent to attract more tourists while limiting local governments’ ability to use the money to retain workers needed to serve those visitors.

So visitors and second homeowners keep flooding in, while the workers and retirees keep getting washed out.

Our delegation in Cheyenne is mostly supportive of reforming property taxes and diversifying revenue sources, and hears regularly from County residents.

If you want to see change, let legislators know personally which issues are hitting home. View the interim meeting schedules at WyoLeg.gov to get involved. Just last week, the Joint Revenue Committee met in Lander to dig into topics like tobacco taxes and private trusts. You can watch, learn and testify too.

-Jackson Hole News&Guide