Property Tax Reform Focus of Wyoming Revenue Committee

Posted by Bobbie Frank on July 1, 2025

The Joint Revenue Committee during their June meeting continued to tackle property tax reform.  The Committee directed legislative service office staff to draft the following bills, the summary below provided by Wyoming Taxpayers Association of which GoWest is a member:

1. Remove the owner-occupied requirement for tax year 2026 and beyond for the homeowner property tax exemption passed in 2025. This was the 25 percent exemption on the first $1 million of fair market value for residential real structures and associated improved land.
2. Remove the sunset date for the long-term homeowners exemption. This exemption is a 50 percent exemption for those that are 65 years of age or older and have paid property taxes in the State of Wyoming for 25 years or more.
3. Draft a joint resolution to remove all aspects relating to property taxation in Article 15 of the Wyoming Constitution. The motion started as a complete repeal of Article 15 of Wyoming’s Constitution but was whittled down with the goal of removing all property taxation in the state. In 2024, property taxes provided over $2 billion in revenue to local taxing authorities, including counties, municipalities, K-12 public schools, community colleges, and special districts.
4. Draft a constitutional amendment that would allow the Legislature to implement acquisition value for residential property.
5. Resurrect 2025 House Bill 0282, Property tax-acquisition value. This bill would change the valuation system to acquisition value for residential real properties, similar to Proposition 13 in California, the only state in the union that has such a system in place.
6. Draft a bill implementing 2024 Amendment A, which allowed the Legislature to create a fourth class, residential real property, for purposes of property taxation. This bill would not implement the subclass allowed by the constitutional amendment for owner-occupied primary residences. The bill would also decrease the assessment ratio for this new class down to 8.3 percent, from its current ratio of 9.5 percent.
7. Resurrect 22LSO-0276 v0.6, Property tax appeals-revisions, considered by the committee in the 2021 interim, with modifications. Those modifications would extend the appeal period from 30 days to 45 days and also impose document sharing requirements on county assessors within three days of the appeal being made.

The committee meets again August 21-22 in Casper.

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Wyoming Advocacy.