Wyoming Sales and Use Tax Collections Sees 5.9% Increase in FY 2024

Total sales and use tax collections in fiscal year 2024 expanded at a robust pace, according to the State of Wyoming, Economic Analysis Division’s annual publication “Wyoming Sales, Use, and Lodging Tax Revenue Report for FY 2024.”

Total sales and use tax collections for FY 2024, reached $1.3 billion, an increase of 7.3 percent from the previous year.

The state-imposed 4% tax collection increased by 5.9%, following two consecutive years of double-digit growth.

Because locally imposed optional taxes often change during a fiscal year, an accurate comparison should only include the state-imposed 4% taxes to reflect changes in taxable sales over time.

“This robust expansion is the result of continued higher spending on wind power projects and strong lodging sales, mixed with cooling inflation and deceleration in mineral extraction activities,” said Dr. Wenlin Liu, Chief Economist with the Economic Analysis Division.

As the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic faded, Wyoming’s economy continued to grow in FY 2024, albeit at a slower pace. Compared to FY 2023, nearly every major industrial sector experienced growth.

In particular, collections from the utilities sector surged by 21.1 percent, driven by increased activities in wind power projects.

Financial activities, where taxes are mostly from automobiles, consumer goods, and industrial machinery and equipment leasing and rental, grew by 17.7 percent. Accommodation services also saw a significant increase of 13.7 percent.

Retail trade (excluding motor vehicles), the largest industry sector in terms of sales tax collections, expanded by 3.3 percent.

Wyoming’s pivotal industry, mining, demonstrated moderate growth of 4.8 percent, attributed to a continued rebound in exploration activities in the first half of FY 2024.

However, collections from this industry remain 10.7 percent lower than in FY 2019 and 32.7 percent smaller than in FY 2015. Finally, sales and use taxes from online shopping, a sub-sector of retail trade, increased by 12.5 percent.

“In FY 2024, collections from these e-commerce transactions accounted for 7.5 percent of the state's total sales and use taxes, compared to 0.7 percent in FY 2017,” Dr. Liu continued.

Across the state, year-over-year sales and use tax collections increased in 16 counties, with Niobrara County leading at a remarkable 50.0 percent increase, followed by Albany County at 38.6 percent.

Other counties that experienced significant growth include Uinta (27.4 percent), Lincoln (20.2 percent), Platte (19.3 percent), Weston (19.1 percent), and Converse (18.6 percent), all benefiting from the continued rebound in mineral activities or expansion of utilities projects in FY 2024.

In contrast, Hot Springs County experienced the steepest decline in collections, down 13.9 percent compared to FY 2023. Carbon County saw a decline of 10.9 percent, Sublette County decreased by 7.5 percent, and Campbell County experienced a drop of 4.3 percent. These declines were primarily due to reduced activities in mineral extraction.

Total lodging tax collections (including local optional lodging taxes), $64.1 million for FY 2024, were up from the $57.1 million collected in the previous year, or 12.1 percent.

The year-over-year change for the state-imposed 3 percent lodging tax collections was 9.1 percent, compared to the decline of 4.0 percent in FY 2023, which was mostly caused by the closure and the subsequent limited admission due to the flooding in Yellowstone National Park in the summer and fall of 2023.

On the other hand, the recreation visitations in FY 2024 to the nation’s first National Park nearly broke the record set in FY 2021, which benefited FY 2024 lodging taxes, particularly in Teton and Park counties.

Park (33.5%) showed the fastest growth, followed by Lincoln (27.5%), and Big Horn (26.3%).

Three other counties, Converse, Goshen, and Platte also demonstrated an over 20.0 percent growth rate, each.

Teton County, which collects more than half of Wyoming’s lodging taxes due to its geographical inclusion of national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, experienced an increase of 6.4 percent from FY 2023 to FY 2024.