Pat Stuart

Last year moans and groans about the future and needs for money echoed through the halls of the state capitol, the county courthouses, and city halls. Extraction industry money was going away; the need for government services was growing. Not to mention, COVID was playing havoc with the economy. Taken together, just paying the bills in 2021-22 seemed a huge and intractable problem.

But not a new one: It was the old story of what inevitably happens to a revenue model based on low taxes and severance income. 

What to do?

Ideas percolated: Raise sales taxes. Increase property taxes. Create an income tax. Or, heavens forbid, how about a special tax for the billionaires and money launderers who seek refuge under Wyoming laws? I could go on.

It’s important to note here that the services we receive from our state and local governments far exceeds what we pay in property and sales tax revenue. Which means that not only do we get a very cheap ride but that, as new people move into our area, our governments must spend more and more to extend existing services (not to mention meeting new demands).

What am I saying? That we in Wyoming have been spoiled, and in the process have come to expect a great deal more from our bureaucrats than we pay for.

“Sure,” everyone says when a new crisis comes along. “Maybe we need a new economic model; maybe something should be done, sure. On the other hand, maybe our system isn’t the best of all possible worlds, but it’s ours. We like it ... mostly.”

And we do. In the good years, we’ve lived high off the hog thanks to digging and pumping wealth out of our soil. In the bad years? Not so much. Then, politicians moan and groan and delay doing anything at all until ...

... a knight in shining armor rides into Cheyenne, the economy booms, the demand for oil and coal rises. Largesse strikes. We fall back into complacency.

This time Wyoming’s rescue came from <not one but two> gleaming knights on gold-shod horses. The first galloped wildly up and down the state’s lovely highways and byways scattering federal COVID millions. And, as though that wasn’t good enough, he came with a Biden promise to return. We should expect more golden-shod relief with infrastructure money and “Build Back Better” dollars.

Wow! But, wait: There’s that second knight. Oil revenue projections, it seems, were wrong. Hooray! The price of oil has doubled, maybe tripled. Hooray! Wyoming can return to its normal status, providing its citizenry with — overall — the lowest tax rate in the nation. Wyoming can remain a tax paradise, an “off-shore” haven for money launderers. For now.

Sort of. That’s the good news. Right now. 

My crystal ball, though, flashes warnings. Oil will stick around for the time being, demand fluctuating but eventually falling while, like it or not, coal as an energy source will go away. And so, gradually, the foundation holding up our revenue model will fade into history. At the same time, our demographics are shifting. The most notable being the aging of our population — a group that demands/needs more services. 

These are trends that should be keeping our legislators awake at night.

Ensuring economic security for the people of Wyoming ranks near the top of their job descriptions. It’s time they take note. The men and women we send to Cheyenne should be using this reprieve, this time, this relief from Uncle Sam and oil prices, to seriously tackle our outdated and out-lived tax codes. They should be calling special sessions to debate solutions for this problem ... not wasting time trying to make national political statements. 

In fact, if they can carve out time to debate something that is a non-issue to the vast majority of us, why can’t they seem to come to grips with a critical issue that actually will have a strong impact on our daily lives?

We have a reprieve. Let’s use it instead of, once more and maybe for the last time, kicking the economic security can down the road.