By Noah Zahn
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — Lawmakers are once again considering a proposal to ditch property taxes for an increase in sales taxes for Wyomingites.

On Monday, the Joint Revenue Committee discussed the proposal along with some others to clear the air on confusion regarding recent and further tax cut proposals.

During the meeting, lawmakers grappled with a slew of further property tax proposals, attempting to balance the public demand for homeowner relief against the increasingly dire warnings from local governments about the potential collapse of essential services.

The meeting opened with a look at the effectiveness of the relief measures already passed by the Wyoming Legislature.

Since 2023, lawmakers have implemented a 4% cap on year-to-year assessment increases, a 25% homeowner property tax exemption and a 50% exemption for long-term residents over the age of 65. However, testimony from state revenue officials and county assessors said that the system can be so complex that many of the citizens it was designed to help are being left behind.

The confusion crisis

Ken Guille of the Wyoming Department of Revenue testified that only about 44% to 46% of eligible Wyoming homeowners actually received the 25% exemption during its first year of application. Across all new exemptions, he estimated it accounted for $190 million in exempted tax dollars in 2025. For 2026, he said the rough estimates currently are at $140 million.

The primary reason for the lack of participation in programs, some testified, was widespread confusion among the public.

Dixie Huxtable, the Converse County assessor, told the committee that the rapid changes to the law have left taxpayers bewildered.

“What has happened in the last couple of years with property tax relief really has taxpayers confused. They don’t really know what to ask for. They don’t know what to expect,” Huxtable said. She urged the committee to consider a period of stability, noting that “less change is better” for transparency purposes.

Joel Schell, the Converse County treasurer, echoed these concerns, noting that citizens are struggling to distinguish between the various refunds and exemptions currently on the books.

“A lot of people came in asking about refunds when they meant exemptions. And a lot of people came in talking about the exemptions when they meant refunds,” Schell said. 

He also highlighted a “wave” of confusion among homeowners with escrow accounts, many of whom do not even realize they received a tax reduction until their mortgage company performs an annual audit months later.

Frustrated by the temporary nature of recent exemptions, the committee turned its attention to more fundamental property tax reforms. One of the most significant proposals discussed was the resurrection of a plan to functionally eliminate residential property taxes altogether and replace the lost revenue with a statewide sales tax increase.

Josh Anderson of the Legislative Service Office walked the committee through House Bill 118, which was proposed in the recent legislative session and would have set the residential assessment rate to 0%.

To fill the resulting $600 million hole in the budget, the bill proposed a 2% increase in statewide sales and use tax. 

Matt Sackett, an LSO fiscal analyst, estimated that a 2% sales tax increase, combined with a potential 2% real estate transfer tax, would raise roughly $580 million.

Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, a vocal proponent of shifting away from property taxes, argued that this shift is necessary to protect Wyomingites from national economic volatility.

“I think that we’re looking for solutions here so you’re not renting from the government the rest of your life kind of like Florida just did,” he said. “… I think we’ve got a direction here and I don’t think it’s unworkable.”

However, the proposal faced pushback regarding its impact on local services.

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, cautioned that sales taxes are a notoriously volatile revenue source compared to property taxes.

“I think there is a bigger issue of removing the burden of property tax from local people that incur the cost of services,” he said. “I definitely make that point that nothing is free. It has to come from somewhere.”

In a departure from traditional Wyoming tax discussions, Rep.Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, introduced an idea borrowed from the Pennsylvania tax code: the base year assessment system. Under Chestek’s proposal, the state would perform a county-wide reassessment at fair market value and then freeze those values for a set period, such as five years.

“Real estate taxes make up about half of the taxes paid by an ordinary citizen … so when we have rapid tax increases in real estate taxes, that’s a big problem for our citizens,” Chestek said.

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