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2004 Budget Session
HB 113 would have expanded Wyoming's tax refund program for low-income elderly and disabled citizens by modifying the income eligibility criteria.
Under current Wyoming law, Wyoming residents who are 65 or older, or who are 18 or older and totally disabled, and who meet low-income criteria are eligible for a refund of state taxes.
Single residents who make less than $10,000 per year are eligible for a $500 refund, reduced by the percentage that their income exceeds $6,000. Married couples, at least one of whom is 65 or older or totally disabled, who make less than $14,000 per year are eligible for a $14,000 refund, reduced by the percentage that their income exceeds $8, 000 per year.
Applicants may own up to $100,000 in combined equity value in their primary residence and property, household furnishings and personal belongings, and one motor vehicle. Applicants may not own additional resources valued at more than $4,500.
The last modification to this tax refund program occurred in 1999, when the Legislature increased the income eligibility levels to their current level. An attempt to increase qualifying income levels in the 2001 legislative session failed.
HB 113 proposed increasing the qualifying income level for a single person from $10,000 to $13,000, and the corresponding refund to from $500 to $650. It would have reduced the refund by the percentage that income exceeded $7,800.
For married persons, the qualifying income level would have increased from $14,000 to $18,200, and the refund would have risen from $600 to $780, reduced by the percentage that income exceeded $10,400.
HB 113 also proposed an increase in total combined equity in a home, property, personal belongings, and a vehicle from $100,000 to $130,000, and would have raised the level of allowed additional resources from $4,500 to $5,800.
Supporters of HB 113 believed that the tax refund program helps alleviate some impacts of Wyoming's regressive tax system, and argued that income eligibility levels and refund levels must be regularly raised to keep pace with ever-increasing expenses, which hit low-income citizens the hardest.
There was no opposition expressed in the House, where HB 113 passed the vote for introduction unanimously (58-0, 2 excused) and passed Third Reading unanimously (48-0, 12 excused).
The House did amend the bill to slightly lower the overall total increases, and to phase in the increases with intermediate increases next year. The full increase would have taken affect in 2006.
The Senate Revenue Committee passed the bill, 4-1, with only Senator Dick Erb (R-S24, Gillette) voting against it. HB 113 was next referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it was not scheduled for a hearing before the deadline for committee action, and so died without a vote.