Attempts to change Wyoming’s tax structure must continue despite the defeat of a bill that would have created a corporate income tax, according to a legislative leader.
HB 220, called the “National Retail Fairness Act,” would have imposed an income tax on corporations such as large retailers that do business in Wyoming but have their headquarters in other states.
But the measure encountered significant opposition and the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee declined to review the bill before a Wednesday deadline for committees to finish their work.
Committee Chair Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said he never brought the bill up because there was very little chance for it to win Senate approval.
Landen said discussions of how to change Wyoming’s tax structure must continue, even though many ideas raised will not be popular.
“That’s going to be difficult every single time we bring a bill like this one because everybody believes in that, they just don’t want it done in their backyard,” he said.
Backers of the bill in the House, where the bill was approved by a vote of 44-14, said it would have given the state a tool to get its share of the taxes already built into the cost of products.
“I thought it was a good tool for Wyoming to get some of the money from the big box stores that they’re already scheduled to pay,” said Rep. Bunky Loucks, R-Casper. “And they don’t really participate in the tax base of our state.”
