Wyoming lawmakers consider tax increases to meet deficits

A legislative committee’s task of finding new sources of revenue for Wyoming coffers includes looking at new taxes or increasing existing taxes.

Republican Sen. Ray Peterson of Cowley is co-chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Interim Committee.

Peterson tells the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that the panel is looking at everything related to increasing revenue.

Peterson said he isn’t a fan of imposing taxes. But with around 70 percent of Wyoming’s revenue derived from taxing minerals, he said the state must consider broadening its base to break the perennial boom-bust economic cycle.

Possibilities for raising revenue include: imposing a gross receipts tax; reviewing user fees among state and local agencies; increasing tobacco and alcohol taxes; and evaluating local government revenue options.

The committee’s report is due in November.