The Wyoming Freedom Caucus came to the 2025 session with a plan to do what the people of Wyoming asked them to do. The plan was named the Five & Dime for five key issues which the House of Representatives, where the WYFC has a majority influence, passed in the first ten days of session.
One of the key issues of the Five & Dime was a 50% LOCAL tax cut on residential properties. Our bill HB169 passed in the first eight days provided a 50% LOCAL tax cut. We have stuck to the plan by advancing the Senate tax cut effort by passing SF69 with a 50% LOCAL tax cut.
It is a conservative tenant to reduce spending in order to enable tax cuts. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus purposefully removed $235 Million from the Governor’s STATE budget request. The purpose of this STATE budget cut was to provide LOCAL tax relief.
How do you effect LOCAL tax cuts with STATE budget reductions? You provide grants to LOCAL governments to backfill the LOCAL tax cuts. This allows local elected officials to manage reductions in spending that they may or may not agree with.
Some conservatives have claimed that it is not conservative to provide a backfill to LOCAL governments.
The first thing one should do is to investigate if those “conservatives” have made any good faith effort to cut spending themselves.
If they have not, while attempting to cut taxes, they are simply telling others to cut spending while not making an effort themselves (hint: the senate budget restored nearly all of the cuts from Mark Gordon’s budget).
That is clearly NOT conservative. That is in fact poor governance.
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus came to the 2025 session with a plan. We have executed that plan. Now we are waiting on our colleagues in the Senate to do the good work of the people and pass these common sense measures.
John Bear represents House District 31 in Gillette
