Having lived in Wyoming for most of her life, Casper resident Laurie Longtine described to lawmakers Thursday the many ways public services have shaped her lived experiences.
The Natrona County Library, for one, is a place Longtine said she’s visited since she was a young child. She can remember watching county fair parades from its steps.
After she graduated from Natrona County High School, Longtine said she earned degrees from Casper College and the University of Wyoming.
These days, Longtine often walks the city’s pathway system, which could be glimpsed from the Basko Building where the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee was meeting.
“And now that I have a little more gray in my hair, I’m a regular person who goes and uses my senior center,” she said.
Longtine was one of about two dozen homeowners who attended the meeting Thursday to urge lawmakers against further property tax reductions. She and others worry those reductions will lead to a further decline in the tax revenue that pays for local services.
“Property tax is how we pay for the things we value,” Longtine said. “It is a responsibility we accept as part of being a caring member of our communities. It is a part of how we take care of each other.”
Not far from the center is Highland Cemetery, where Longtine said her nephews are buried.
“Their graves are maintained by property tax dollars,” she said.
Property taxes fund public services. After lawmakers voted to cut residential property taxes by 25% earlier this year, local governments across the state have been cutting services in the face of reduced revenue.
Casper, for example, made up for the loss of $1.8 million by cutting seasonal park staff in half, leaving four full-time positions unfunded and reducing irrigation, fertilization, snow removal and other parks and trails maintenance.
Since the Joint Revenue Committee made property tax issues its top priority ahead of the 2026 session, lawmakers are now considering more drastic measures including overhauling how homes are valued and abolishing property taxes altogether in favor of raising other taxes.
But some who spoke Thursday advised against more dramatic measures.
“I urge you, please, be responsible, be boring,” Lisa Jamieson, a Casper homeowner, told the committee.
“Don’t defund and destroy our institutions. I think what’s important to people like me is, I would like for our communities to remain nice places to live, and I’m willing to pay taxes to keep that going,” Jamieson said.
Different opinions
Local government officials — from sheriffs and firefighters to community college and special district representatives — warned lawmakers about the consequences of blanket property tax cuts.
That kind of opposition makes sense, Nate Martin told the committee Thursday.
“They’re the ones who spend the money,” said Martin, executive director of Better Wyoming, a community organizing group.
“The people I have with me today … are not people who have day jobs that spend property tax revenue,” Martin said. “They’re homeowners. They’re taxpayers. They’re voters.”
Alongside the meeting attendees, about 240 more Wyomingites emailed the committee, Martin told WyoFile.
It was an unusual development for a committee that has historically heard support for property tax cuts from homeowners.
“I am appreciative for listening to your opinion. It’s an opposite side of an opinion, for example, that I typically hear at the door, which is, ‘Our property taxes skyrocketed, and I’m worried about losing my home,” committee co-chairman Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper, said. “But both sides of the conversation have to be heard.”
How we got here
It was surging home prices that first sparked the Legislature’s recent interest in property tax reform. And after lawmakers took a cautious approach in the 2023 session, residents demanded further action, contending they otherwise risked losing their homes.
Since then, a slate of bills have made it into law.
“And then something shifted,” Martin told the committee. “It seems that politicians figured out that they could use property tax cuts as a campaign issue and sell it to voters as free money with no consequences.”
Committee co-chairman Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, pushed back.
“I kind of took offense to one comment made that the only reason we cut property taxes to get elected and we’re dishonest and crooked,” McKeown said. “I would challenge any of you to run for the Legislature and come tackle this monster. You treat us like we don’t care, but I’m telling you, we do. And we’re not looking at tax cuts, we’re looking at changing it the way it’s done.”
In June, the committee voted to draft a bill to eliminate property taxes altogether after lawmakers created a confusing web of exemptions. If passed by the full Legislature and approved by voters, the proposal would eliminate all property taxes — residential, commercial, industrial and personal — which accounted for the largest tax stream in Wyoming in the 2024 tax year at $2 billion. To account for such a revenue loss, lawmakers floated raising sales tax.
Economists often characterize sales taxes as regressive because people with lower incomes spend a larger percentage of their income on goods that are subject to such a tax.
The committee is also considering changes to exemptions already on the books. One draft bill would eliminate the eight-month residency requirement for one exemption, a second would remove the sunset date for another.
One thing the committee has not done, however, “has looked at who’s paying which taxes in the state,” Jackson Democrat Rep. Liz Storer said at the meeting.
“When we talk about what we did in June, the idea of getting rid of property taxes and instituting a sales tax, we really do need — and I would encourage all of us — to look at what that means for who’s paying those taxes,” Storer said. “I think that is a significant shift from the upper class to the lower class.”
The average cost of a house in Wyoming is around $400,000, Storer said, which means the average homeowner is getting a $335 tax break thanks to the current exemptions.
“But a property that’s over $10 million is getting a tax break of over $13,000 when you look at the combined exemptions that we have passed in the last two years,” Storer said. “So please do understand who’s paying what taxes and who’s really getting a break.”
At publishing time, the committee was set to continue its property tax discussion late Friday afternoon with the expectation that consideration of some bills would be delayed to its November meeting.
The state must fund itself and balance income and expense. There are many taxes in place already. I would like to see the sales taxes eliminated (along with their bureaucracy at all levels). That would make sellers in some parts of the state more competitive. I’d also like to see the lodging tax disappear. There is too much travel by Wyoming people within the state requiring overnight stays – whether for work, events, or tourism. We don’t need to pay for advertising as we already know what the state is like.
At the same time, we do need to fund the state. I don’t want to see yet another layer of bureaucracy added to the state by income taxes, nor do I want to file another return. That leaves property taxes on an individual level. Raise them as needed, but also deal with the frivolous or special interest expense side better.
Raising corporate rates just causes the corporations to pass that cost on to people buying their products or cut costs (like payroll) to make ends meet. Eventually, people end up paying. Sales taxes are very regressive. Lodging taxes are just irritating. Property taxes, whether paid directly or as part of rent payments are fair.
Reoccurring personal property taxes are theft.
Primary residence should not be taxed any amount, the only people that would continue to want and support it are those that continue to be unnecessarily dependent on said government.
We can do better in WY.
How about asking folks who don’t live off the system how we feel. I love the idea of sales taxes to make up the difference. Or as I call them , use taxes. And they should be set up as a flat tax. Pay to play but only once on everything you buy.
A property tax break should only apply to one (1) residence. All other properties should be taxed at the maximum value. Don’t be fooled people. The wealthy would love to screw you, just like Trump.
It would be beneficial if all property owners and taxpayers educated themselves as what the property tax funds and provides for the counties to provide services. A good place to start is the county budget and attending the county commission meetings
I was present at the public comment session and I watched the legislators like Campbell roll their eyes as individuals made their comments and case for no more reductions in taxes and the need to retain services in all communities. I watched Ide and McKeown make it known that they have no desire to hear or recognize what was said. They are going to push for the repeal of property taxes to benefit themselves. In addition Campbell made it perfectly clear that they are putting a 50% reduction of property tax on the ballot. He knows people vote against their best interest when they don’t recognize or understand the outcome. This entire hearing was a charade as usual when dealing with the freedumb caucus. They are hell bent to destroy our communities and our state.
I literally struggle to pay my own property taxes on just social security income. But there is no way I want the funding for our schools and local government to be harmed any further. I am raising my grandson and he started school this year. I want him to have the public education he is entitled to as well as the other children in the state. Before the takeover of our state by these outsiders who bring nothing but hate and mayhem and their indoctrination of those who are suffering from a need to only take care of their interests, Wyoming was a much better place to live, to work, to go to school and we had actual invested leadership who cared about the state and everyone’s future. They were forward looking, not out to make money or strangle our communities.
Property tax, not a four letter word, but elicits strong opinions from many people. Yes, Minnesota has high property taxes, and a higher sales tax rate than Wyoming, but they also have more services, larger populations, a corporate tax and a tax structure that distinguishes between resident and non resident. My biggest argument about property taxes is that as valuations within municipalities and counties increased, mil levies remained the same. Staff got added, more “pet” projects got undertaken, and salaries increased. That is not responsible government. I will gladly pay my property tax bill, but I want my county commissioners to start authorizing and spending money like it was coming out of their own pockets. And yes, I agree that a number of politicians used property tax reduction as a campaign tool, and yes too many people could only see the reductions affect on them, not the whole picture. So bottom line, be careful who you vote for, you may not like the consequences.
A key problem with property taxes is that property assessments include a largely subjective component, and management of the property tax system requires a burdensome bureaucracy to make those subjective judgements. A sales tax on, the other hand, is entirely objective, and a sales tax need not be regressive if groceries, medicine, and gasoline are to one degree or another exempted from the sales tax. So, eliminate the despised property tax. To the extent government revenue is needed (and some government revenue may not be needed; give consideration to the amount by which government revenue and spending has outpaced population and income growth in recent years and the degree to which Wyoming outspends neighboring states), institute a sales tax instead of a property tax.
Unintended consequences. We forgot what our property taxes are used for. A property tax decrease sounds good until the fallout.
If all property taxes are repealed, I see a state income tax along with a whole bunch of other taxes and fees. Remember fees aren’t legislated as much as taxes are.
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus threw the small counties in Wyoming under the proverbial bus when they passed blanket 25% property tax reductions. There is no way the small counties in Wyoming can absorb a 25% tax reduction – most are just trying to survive as the large communities thrive. There was a recent article about the financial condition of the hospitals in the small counties and it revealed that virtually all of them are operating in the red. I expect that we’ll see 2-4 hospitals or clinics in small communities fail due to the tax reduction. I lived in Lusk when the hospital and nursing home closed which was a catastrophe for a small town; and, the local hospital defaulted on a State of Wyoming loan slightly over $2 million.
We are in this position because the prosperous counties were collecting too much property tax – places like Jackson, Gillette, and Cheyenne. So the remedy the Freedom Caucus adopted cut the taxes in the counties least able to afford it. DAH. And they threw out the backfilling which would have saved the small counties.
THIS WHOLE MATTER COULD HAVE BEEN RESOLVED BY THE LARGE PROSPEROUS COUNTIES SIMPLY CUTTING THEIR MILL LEVIES ON A COUNTY BY COUNTY BASIS WHICH WOULD HAVE SPARED THE SMALL COUNTIES.
And to add insult to injury, the Freedom Caucus legislatures funded $165 million for a new high school and bus barn for Campbell County immediately after throwing the small counties under the bus. I wonder where the $600-700 million for the new dorms at the University of Wyoming came from???
The small counties are totally being ignored by the Freedom Caucus – they will pay at the ballot box next election.
Thoughts and prayers for Troy McKeown, whose feelings were hurt by the comments of the mean voter at the Casper meeting. McKeown voted for the blanket 25% reduction.
I live in Laramie County, just outside of CHEYENNE. Three years ago, I was in a very bad auto wreck. The Individual that hit me called Nine One One. He helped me out of the car and within about three minutes, fire trucks started to arrive, paramedic started to arrive, the sheriffs office started to arrive. They took care of me and I was off to the hospital in about 10 minutes after the accident. I was highly impressed with this and we should not cut property taxes anymore and lose these valuable individuals. I hate to think what would’ve happened if they had not been there.
I have a cousin in Minnesota. His property tax is about $10,000 a year on a $400,000 house. The other taxes in state are really high also. He says his state and local taxes run about 25 or 30% of his income.
I don’t want taxes that high, but they aren’t
We already have it good in Wyoming and the legislators needs to not screw it up.
The freedom caucus is killing us.
Let me repeat that the free dumb caucus is killing us. Do I like paying taxes maybe not, but I will gladly pay taxes to keep up my county, the city, and the protection of the assistance they provide.
The legislature needs to concentrate on state problems. Taxation is not one of them.
Over the last decade the Wyoming Permanent fund has accumulated a large sum of money that amounts to 31.5 billion dollars. It’s been growing by a billion and some dollars per year and can be seen, saved or printed at https://statetreasurer.wyo.gov
My question is what is the purpose of having this money stashed away?
The ~$31 billion accumulated in all the permanent funds generates enough income for the state that we have one of the lowest state and local tax rates in the country. The percent of personal income paid toward state and local taxes in Wyoming is about 5.7%. Only Alaska and New Hampshire have a lower take of 4.9’% and 5.5%. The state essentially created a sovereign wealth fund during the fat fossil fuel days like the one in Norway and we are now benefiting greatly. No need to spend the principal.
The permanent savings account helps fund the state’s annual budget deficit. Using the earnings from the permanent fund is the only way Wyoming can balance its budget.
If McKeown thinks it’s so hard to be in the legislature, he should resign and let a serious adult fill the position