Our original report in January 2018 (Delinquent Mineral Taxes and Budget Deficits: A Case for Reform) detailed Wyoming’s heavy dependence on mineral taxes to fund state and local government services. We discussed the fact that Wyoming gets more than 70% of our total revenue from taxes on mineral extraction and the impacts to county services that occur when mineral production taxes cannot be collected.
The Wyoming Legislative Revenue Committee (committee) has responded to the problem facing counties in collecting these debts by taking up the topic of reforming administration and imposition of ad valorem taxes for exploration during the interim session.
To assist the committee’s process, Powder River has maintained communications with participating counties in order to provide updated information on tax status. While there is positive news to report in this update, the cumulative debt owed to counties has continued to rise since information was originally published in January. Mineral production debts reported by participating counties has climbed from just over $42 million to almost $55 million.
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