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2004 Budget Session
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Wyoming collects a statewide sales and use tax of 4% on retail sales of tangible personal property within the state. The tax is also applied to the sales price of many other products and activities, defined in state statute. Wyoming's statutes also provide a number of specific exemptions to the state sales tax.
HB 44 proposed adding a new exemption for the sale or lease of machinery and machine tools used in manufacturing new products.
HB 44 directed the Wyoming Business Council and the Wyoming Department of Revenue to report every year to legislative interim committees on the cumulative effects of this sales tax exemption. The annual report would summarize employment history of companies who received the exemption, including numbers of full- and part-time employees and rates of employee turnover. The report also would include wage and benefit histories of affected companies, divided out by gender for each job category, and would include a comprehensive history of taxes paid to the state by companies.
HB 44 specified that the sales tax exemption on manufacturing machinery and tools would expire at the end of 2010.
The Legislative Service Office tentatively estimated that about $2 million in tax revenue might be lost annually, while noting that this estimate was based on a number of assumptions of uncertain accuracy.
Supporters of HB 44 offered the bill as an economic development proposal, believing that the sales tax exemption might entice manufacturing companies to move to Wyoming.
Opponents argued that offering blanket tax incentives could end up actually hurting the state economically. In addition to losing tax revenues, if new companies offer mostly part-time jobs without benefits, the state will end up increasing social services spending to deal with poverty of its citizens.
The ESPC appreciated the inclusion in HB 44 of the annual reporting requirements, as an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the tax exemption and to evaluate its impact on state employment, wages, tax revenue and the need for social services.
However, the ESPC suggested improving the bill by linking tax incentives to job quality standards, up front. In other words, a company would qualify for the tax break only if it met certain requirements for the quality of jobs it would bring, and if the state determined that the overall economic benefits of the proposed project would justify the loss of tax revenue.
The ESPC recommended that the state offer exemptions by application. When manufacturers applied for the exemption, they would provide detailed information about anticipated numbers of full-time employees, salary and wage levels, and benefits for the state to evaluate. Companies that were granted the tax exemption would be required to file annual reports as described in HB 44, summarizing employee, salary, benefit and tax information.
The recommendations of the ESPC were not included in HB 44, other than the annual reporting requirements.
During committee hearings, it became apparent that a variety of mineral activities could meet the definition of manufacturing in HB 44, and so could qualify for this tax exemption. These included the recovery of helium from natural gas, the making of soda ash from trona, and petroleum refining.
The House Revenue Committee recommended amending the bill to exclude the above activities from the definition of manufacturing activity. However, the full House refused to accept the committee amendment, and passed the bill in its original form, 48-10 (2 excused). The Senate passed HB 44, unamended, 18-12.
The votes listed below are the third reading votes in the House and Senate.
A YES vote means the legislator supported a sales tax exemption for the sale or lease of machinery and machine tools used in manufacturing new products, and supported allowing the minerals industry to take advantage of the tax break.
A NO vote means the legislator did not support the sales tax exemption for manufacturing equipment, including the minerals industry.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
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| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | Yes | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | Yes | |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | Yes | |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | Yes | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | Yes | |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes | |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | Yes | |
| H 27 | Jane Wostenberg (R) | Yes | |
| H 28 | Micheal Baker (R) | Yes | |
| Casper-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
|
| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | Yes | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | Yes | |
| H 36 | Liz Gentile (D) | Yes | |
| S 28 | Keith Goodenough (D) | No | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes | |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | Yes | |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | Yes | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | Yes | |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | No | |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | Yes | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | Yes | |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | No | |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
|
| S 4 | April Brimmer Kunz (R) | Yes | |
| H 7 | Tony Ross (R) | Yes | |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | Yes | |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | Yes | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | Yes | |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | Yes | |
| S 6 | Rich Cathcart (D) | No | |
| H 9 | Wayne Johnson (R) | Yes | |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | No | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | Yes | |
| H 43 | Ed Prosser (R) | Yes | |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | No | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes | |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | No | |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | No | |
| H 31 | Jene Jansen (R) | Yes | |
| H 52 | George McMurtrey (R) | Excused | |
| S 24 | Richard A. Erb (R) | Yes | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | Yes | |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | Yes | |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | No | |
| H 33 | Harry Tipton (R) | Excused | |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | Yes | |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | Yes | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | Yes | |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | Yes | |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
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| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | Yes | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | Yes | |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | Yes | |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | Yes | |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | Yes | |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | Yes | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | Yes | |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | Yes | |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
|
| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | No | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | Yes | |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | Yes | |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | No | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | No | |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | No | |
| South Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
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| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | No | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | No | |
| H 45 | Lorna Johnson (D) | No | |
| S 10 | Irene Devin (R) | Yes | |
| H 14 | Phil Nicholas (R) | No | |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | Yes | |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | Yes | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | Yes | |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | No | |
| Southwest WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
|
| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | No | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes | |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | No | |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | No | |
| H 17 | Fred Parady (R) | Yes | |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | Yes | |
| S 14 | Larry Caller (D) | Yes | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | Yes | |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes | |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | No | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 49 | Saundra Meyer (D) | Yes | |
| West Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/19/04 | Senate 3rd 2/27 |
|
| S 16 | Delaine Roberts (R) | Yes | |
| H 20 | Stan Cooper (R) | Yes | |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | Yes | |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | Yes | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | Yes | |
| H 23 | Clarene Law (R) | Yes | |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | |||