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Tax Structure
Wyoming's
tax structure is business friendly
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No personal income tax
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No corporate income tax
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No gross receipts tax
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No chain store tax
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No tax on intangibles
- Low
property taxes
(the state has not levied a statewide property tax since 1969; the general
property tax is assessed by the counties).
Wyoming is
a freeport state.
Personal property
inventory in transit through the state is tax exempt. All goods and materials
for processing, repackaging, fabricating, milling, assembly or disassembly
with a final destination outside the state can be transported tax-free.
Livestock being fed in Wyoming feedlots for slaughters elsewhere are exempt
from taxation as personal property under the provisions of the law.
This relatively
unhindered flow of goods through the state provides accessibility to an
expanded market area that reaches from Canada to Mexico and from the Pacific
Coast to the Great Lakes.
4%
State Sales Tax
The largest
single sources of revenue to state government are sales and use taxes,
mineral royalties, and mineral severance taxes. The general sales tax
in Wyoming is 4 percent and may be raised on a county option basis to
5 percent by a vote of the people. State law also provides for additional
I percent sales tax that may be applied on a county option basis for specific
capital construction needs ( i.e. the construction of a county facility).
The capital construction sales tax stays in place only until the project
for which it was approved is completed and paid for. County by county,
then, the sales tax can be 4 cents, 5 cents or 6 cents on the dollar.
The sales tax in Wyoming is a shared resource between state and local
government. Distribution of sales tax back to local units of government
on a formula determined by the legislature provides an important source
of revenue to local units of government.
Park County collects no optional sales tax. The statewide 4 percent sales
tax applies on all but exempted sales in Park County.
A 2% lodging tax is collected in Park County. The lodging tax is collected
on all overnight lodging hotels, motels, campgrounds, and trailer parks.
This tax was approved in March of 1987, by a vote of the county residents.
Proceeds are used exclusively for the promotion of travel and tourism.
The tax must be approved every two years in the general election.
The Park County tax base is largely supported by the oil and gas industry.
Typically, oil and gas account for approximately 75 percent of the assessed
valuation of the county and thereby pay roughly 75 percent of the property
taxes in the county. The large contribution by oil companies and utilities
has traditionally meant that residential property taxes have been held
low. The property taxes paid in the county are, on the average, well below
1% of market value of the residential property.
How
Tax Amounts Are Derived
The
following classes of property and the percent of fair market value of
property assessed for property tax are specified by Wyoming law:
- Gross
value of minerals and mine products in lieu of taxes on the land here
produced 100%.
- Property
used for industrial purposes, defined as: the property of pipeline companies,
electric utilities, railroad companies, car companies, telephone and
telegraph companies, other public producing, processing or fabricating
materials; the extraction or processing of minerals;
the mechanical, chemical or electronic transformation of property into
new products 11.5%.
- All other
property, real and personal 9.5%.
- The assessed
value is multiplied by the amount of mill levy that applies for the
property to get the amount of property tax due. One mill is $.001 (1/1000
of a dollar).
Sample
Calculation of Property Tax Levy
- Market
Value of Property
$100,000
-
Assessed Value of Property
9,500 ($100,000 X 9.5%)
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Total Applicable Mill Levy
77.034
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Total Property Taxes Powell City Limits:
$731.82 ($9,500 X .07703)
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