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2005 General Session
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Tax Exemptions - Background Tax Exemptions - Background |
Wyoming collects a statewide sales and use tax of 4% on retail sales of tangible personal property and 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 272 would have exempted the sale of equipment used to construct new coal gasification or coal liquefaction facilities in Wyoming. The proposed exemption was justified as an economic incentive to companies in the coal gasification and coal liquefaction industry.
The Legislative Service Office was unable to provide an estimate of fiscal impact because they received the bill after the Legislature was in session and didn't have time to perform the necessary analysis.
Supporters believed that companies in the coal gasification and liquefaction industries needed the economic incentive provided by HB 272 to encourage them to build new facilities using these technologies in Wyoming.
As they did on several other sales tax exemption bills this year, opponents again argued against tax exemptions that favor single special interest groups or particular industries, as HB 272 did. Opponents pointed out that ordinary citizens and small business interests don't receive the same degree of legislative interest and tax protection as special interest groups, because they don't have the same lobbying presence at the Legislature as powerful special interest groups have. Opponents also noted that large energy companies such as those in the coal gasification or liquefaction industry certainly have the resources to pay sales tax on the construction of new facilities.
Although lacking solid information on the revenue impacts or potential economic benefits of HB 272, the House Revenue Committee nonetheless unanimously passed the bill.
In the face of criticism that the state has collected no information on the effect of numerous other tax exemptions over the years, and so legislators really have no factual basis to decide if tax exemptions provide actual economic benefits to the state, HB 272 was amended on the House floor to include an annual reporting requirement. The annual report would have disclosed, for companies taking advantage of the tax exemption, employment history including the number of employees (broken into full-time and part-time employees) and the rate of employee turnover. The report also would have included a history of wages and benefits paid, disaggregated by gender, and taxes paid by the companies to Wyoming.
Thus amended, HB 272 passed the House on third reading, 56-3 (1 excused).
In the Senate, HB 272 passed the Senate Revenue Committee, 3-1 (1 excused). The bill was not scheduled for floor debate or a vote by the Senate Committee of the Whole, and so died without a vote of the full Senate.
The votes listed below are the House third reading (final passage) vote and the Senate Revenue Committee vote. A YES vote means the legislator wanted to exempt construction of new coal gasification or liquefaction facilities from paying state sales tax. A NO vote means the legislator did not want to provide this sales tax exemption to companies building new coal gasification or liquefaction plants.
| Revenue Committee | Bill Date |
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| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R - Riverton - chairman) | Yes |
| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R - Thayne) | Yes |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R - Kemmerer) | Excused |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R - Casper) | Yes |
| S 8 | Jayne Mockler (D - Cheyenne) | No |
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | Yes |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | Yes |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | Yes |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | |
| H 27 | Debbie Hammons (D) | Yes |
| H 28 | Lorraine Quarberg (R) | Yes |
| Casper-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | Yes |
| H 36 | Gerald Gay (R) | Yes |
| S 28 | Kit Jennings (R) | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | Yes |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | Yes |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | Yes |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | Yes |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | No |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 4 | Tony Ross (R) | |
| H 7 | Doug Samuelson (R) | Yes |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | Yes |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | Yes |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | Yes |
| S 6 | Wayne H. Johnson (R) | |
| H 9 | Bryan Pedersen (R) | Yes |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | Yes |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | No |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R) | Yes |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | No |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 23 | John Hines (R) | |
| H 31 | Thomas E. Lubnau II (R) | Yes |
| H 52 | Burke Jackson (R) | Yes |
| S 24 | Michael Von Flatern (R) | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | Yes |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | Yes |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | |
| H 33 | W. Patrick Goggles (D) | Yes |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | Yes |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | Yes |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | Yes |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | Yes |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | Yes |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | Yes |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | Yes |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | Yes |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | Yes |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | Yes |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | Yes |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | Yes |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | Yes |
| South Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | Yes |
| H 45 | Kevin A. White (R) | Yes |
| S 10 | Phil Nicholas (R) | |
| H 14 | Kermit C. Brown (R) | Yes |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | Yes |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | Yes |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | Yes |
| Southwest WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | Excused |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | |
| H 17 | Stephen Watt (R) | Yes |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | Yes |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R) | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | Yes |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | Yes |
| H 49 | Bruce Barnard (R) | Yes |
| West Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/7/05 |
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| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R) | |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R) | Yes |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | Yes |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | Yes |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R) | Yes |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | ||