State and local lawmakers across the Mountain West are eyeing property tax relief as home values rise and many residents, especially seniors on fixed incomes struggle to pay their corresponding tax bills.
In Wyoming, average property taxes rose more than 16 percent in just the past year, as reports. A legislative committee moved forward several options last week to try and put money back into people鈥檚 pockets. Those included a constitutional restructuring of the state鈥檚 tax codes and capping yearly rates based on a home's original purchase price. Currently, a property鈥檚 assessed value, which is updated every year, dictates the tax bill.
Susan Martin is a longtime Casper resident who testified at the meeting. She said her annual payments have gone up more than $1,000 over the past few years because real estate values around her keep rising. Even if she makes no improvements to her home, her bill goes up.
鈥淪ocial Security is not going up. Everything else is going up at the supermarket and everywhere else. I mean, you're just gonna squeeze people until they can't afford their homes anymore and they鈥檙e out,鈥� Martin said.
Martin moved to Wyoming decades ago, and acknowledges that her property has more than doubled in value in that time period. But she鈥檚 not seeing any immediate income from that, and no homes in her area are affordable at this point.
鈥淓ven if I sell it, where do I go?鈥� she said.
Lawmakers elsewhere in the Mountain West, including and , have also looked to cut property taxes this summer amid similar un-affordability trends.
Additionally, most states are utilizing existing programs that often target low-income seniors and invite them to apply for refunds. , , , , , and offer these types of initiatives, though eligibility requirements and refund amounts depend on the state. allows exemptions for certain residents but hasn鈥檛 funded its program specifically for seniors in recent years.
In Wyoming, these refund programs are seeing record demand, according to WyoFile. Many housing advocates, however, have argued those programs are either , don鈥檛 provide enough relief, or .
Some Cowboy State officials are proposing more drastic cuts to property tax collections in an effort to make more of an impact on local residents. However, opponents of reform argue that鈥檚 a challenge because those dollars go towards an already underfunded education system. Wyoming had some of the largest declines in tax revenues during the pandemic, .
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the .
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