How Wyoming taxpayers dodged a bullet [OPINION]
Co authors Dan Laursen and Jonathan Williams wrote in article that made it into the Washington Times titled "How Wyoming taxpayers dodged a bullet."
The article focused on this years Wyoming legislative session which offered a bill for a Wyoming corporate income tax.
"Fortunately, for the hardworking taxpayers of Wyoming, legislators did not approve a proposed new corporate income tax this session. If the tax had passed, Wyoming would have undoubtably become a less competitive state. Moreover, Wyoming would have lost its distinction as being one of only two states without a broad-based business income tax. Wyoming’s current economic outlook ranking of 8th best in the Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index would have fallen to at least 15th. That would have been Wyoming’s first time outside of the top 10 in the 11-year history of our rankings."
The story did not just focus on the close call on the a state corporate income tax, but offered possible solutions for Wyoming's tax structure problems.
"Wyoming lawmakers should look for stable revenue sources to ensure core public services, such as schools and police officers, are properly funded regardless of oil price fluctuations. If revenue is needed, Wyoming should use its retail sales tax as opposed to any form of discriminatory taxes, such as an income tax. Before Wyoming lawmakers do anything moving forward, they should take a deep breath and look closely at West Virginia."
The debate on a new Wyoming tax structure is far from over. The debate over any sort of income tax in Wyoming is also far from over.
Stay tuned, literally. We will hear more about this as we get closer to our next legislative session.