Wyoming legislative panel rejects property tax increase

An interim legislative committee has rejected a proposed bill to raise Wyoming’s property tax.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports members of the Joint Revenue Interim Committee took the action during their meeting Monday in Cheyenne.

The bill would have raised the tax rate on real and personal property from 9.5% to 11.5%, a jump that calculates to a roughly 20% increase in taxable property. Under the bill, minerals and industrial property would have been excluded from the increase.

Proponents of the idea say the increase is essential to help the state deal with declining mineral industry revenue in the coming years.

But opponents say raising the property tax could place an unfair burden on low-income people.