In November’s general election, Wyoming voters will decide the fate of a constitutional amendment set into motion by lawmakers in 2023 to adjust residential property taxes.
Property taxes have surged in much of the state in recent years as home values have soared. In response, the Wyoming Legislature expanded the state’s property tax refund program, created new exemptions for certain homeowners and boosted an existing exemption for veterans, among other measures.
Meanwhile, achieving more robust property tax reform has proved complicated for the Legislature. For one, property taxes fund education and local governments, so cutting them risks drying up revenue for public services.
Another challenge lies in the Wyoming Constitution, which groups residential property in the same tax class as commercial and industrial properties. That categorization largely prevents lawmakers from making isolated changes to how homes are taxed. It’s also what inspired the Legislature to pass a resolution in 2023 allowing voters to decide in November whether to amend the constitution and separate residential property into its own tax class.
If successful, the amendment would also grant the Legislature the authority to create a subclass specifically for owner-occupied, primary residences.
“I think this is one way that we can support our communities and support the hardworking people who live here,” Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson), who initially brought the idea of such an amendment to the Joint Revenue Committee, told WyoFile.
Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson) listens during the 2024 legislative session. (Ashton J. Hacke)
The resolution, which required two-thirds support in both the House and the Senate, received widespread backing. But even some of those who voted in favor of it expressed concern, including Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette).
“Creating a new class does not provide tax relief. In fact, this body could choose to raise taxes within that new class,” Bear told WyoFile at the time. “If anything, keeping it tied together to corporations is probably a good idea for right now because it keeps this body from doing just that.”
Sen. Cale Case (R-Lander), who voted against the change, worries it’s the wrong solution at the wrong time.
“The agenda to lower taxes has a dark downside. I don’t think it pays attention to what’s in our predictable future,” Case said, pointing to Wyoming’s volatile mineral revenues.
The amendment is not to be confused with an initiative to cut property taxes for certain homeowners. Backers of that effort failed to file signatures by the deadline to get the measure on the 2024 ballot.
Background and other details
When the resolution was one of three bills aimed at property taxes to come out of the 2023 session, Teton, Lincoln and Sublette county lawmakers praised it as “the first step toward long-term reform,” in a press release.
Those counties have experienced some of the biggest increases in property taxes, according to Department of Revenue records. In Teton County, especially, second homes have helped to boost property values to some of the highest in the country.
A Laramie home for sale in 2024. (Tennessee Watson/WyoFile)
Among other reasons, Yin says he’s supporting the amendment because it would pave the way for county assessors to assess second homes separately from primary residences.
“It is a way to work on disincentivizing second homes while incentivizing lower taxes for our everyday residents … that live in the state,” Yin said.
Case said he’s concerned that could violate the constitution’s equal protection clause, but even more so he worries about “Wyoming’s future revenue picture.”
“We’re on the cusp of a pretty big change,” Case said, pointing to Wyoming’s fossil fuel industry and declining demand for and production of coal.
“I don’t think we really figured that out, and that change is going to mean less revenue for the state,” Case said. “And so to try to redo our property tax system to favor these long-term homeowners, or owner-occupied [homes,] is a little bit problematic in the sense that we need more revenues for local government, not less.
Yin and Case agreed that voters may be surprised by the ballot measure when they head to the voting booth since there’s been very little publicized support or opposition to it.
That said, Case said he believes the energy industry is likely “quietly opposing” the measure.
Sen. Cale Case (R-Lander) at the 67th Wyoming Legislature’s 2023 general session in Cheyenne. (Megan Lee Johnson/WyoFile)
At least one group is working on getting the word out to its members — the Wyoming Realtors Association.
“During the pandemic, we saw a huge influx of buyers from out of state coming to Wyoming. We’re not complaining, we get it,” Laurie Urbigkit wrote in the association’s September newsletter. “But it raised our property values and therefore our property taxes dramatically.”
But creating a separate tax class for residential properties could work to fix that, Urbigkit wrote.
“Constitutional amendments have not always fared well in Wyoming,” Urbigkit wrote, adding that such measures must receive a majority of the total ballots cast in the election to pass.
“If they don’t vote, it’s a no vote, and the amendment is at the end of the ballot,” Urbigkit wrote. “We need to educate voters.”
Twenty-two constitutional amendments have appeared on the ballot in Wyoming since 2000, according to secretary of state records. Voters approved 13 of those, including one in 2012 guaranteeing citizens the right to make their own health care decisions, which is now at the center of ongoing litigation involving Wyoming’s abortion bans.
Early voting in Wyoming begins Oct. 8 for most voters. The general election is Nov. 5.
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