Legislature dodged property tax solutions

by Stephen Dow, Cody Enterprise

The Wyoming Legislature took some meaningful steps toward long-term reform of the state’s property tax system during its recently completed general session, but the immediate financial relief many Wyoming residents needed was in frustratingly short supply.

Let’s start with the positives. The body approved a bill allocating $50,000 for a study on the changes necessary to convert the property tax system to an acquisition-based model, and another letting voters decide in 2024 whether they want to separate residential property into its own tax class.

Both the study and the ballot initiative will pave the way for reform of the current tax system, which is critical. But reform can be a lengthy process.

The ballot measure is over a year away, as are the results of the acquisition model study. How will Wyoming residents get by in the meantime?

As it turns out, the Legislature didn’t have many answers to this critical question.

We do applaud the body for passing one bill that provides relief by expanding eligibility — based on household income — for the state’s tax refund program. But taxes still have to be paid before the refund is granted, and the financial relief provided by the program isn’t immediate — or available to higher-earning residents.

Legislators ultimately voted down other relief proposals such as decreasing the property tax assessment rate or creating a homeowner’s property tax exemption.

We’re sure approving this sort of relief is not an easy decision. But since legislators failed to act, their constituents will be the ones making hard decisions, including whether they can still afford to live and work here.

Only three of 21 property tax bills — or 14% of the bills introduced — passed this session, Rep. Sandy Newsome (R-Cody) said. That is a failing grade, any way you look at it.

We applaud the legislature’s work on this issue this session. But when legislators fail on this particular issue — as they did this year — it is their constituents who are forced to pay the price.