Wyoming Sees Almost 50% Increase in Lodging Tax Revenue in 2022
According to a press release by the Wyoming Economic Analysis Division, its annual publication showed total sales and use tax collections increased by 10.1% in the 2022 fiscal year.
Total sales and use tax collections for FY 2022, reached $1.07 billion and the 4% tax collection grew 11.3% compared to a 5.2% decline in the previous year.
Dr. Wenlin Liu, Chief Economist with the Economic Analysis Division, said in the release:
"With the strong rebound, the amount of total sales and use taxes for fiscal year 2022, nearly reached the record level of fiscal year 2015," Liu said. "However, it’s still 19.1% less if measured in inflation-adjusted dollars."
According to the report, Wyoming ranks 44 nationally for average state and local taxes at 5.22%, with Louisiana at the top at 9.2% and Alaska at the bottom at 1.76%
Across the state, year-over-year statewide sales and use tax collections are up in 18 counties, with Campbell County at the top at 36.5%, followed by Platte County at 30.6%, and Teton County at 29.3%.
Natrona County is near the bottom at 9.5%, while Albany, Converse, Niobrara, Weston, and Carbon counties are all the in negatives.
Carbon County was at the bottom with a 41.3% decrease, which the report claims are because of reduced wind energy activities.
In terms of total sales tax collected, 2022 was just above 2015 for the highest total dollars collected at $972.3 million.
Laramie County brought in the most money from sales tax in the 2022 fiscal year at $154,443,257, compared to Natrona County at $106,904,896, with Weston County bringing in the least at $6,307,102.
Lodging tax collections totaled $28.1 million for the fiscal year 2022, up 49.4% from the $18.8 million collected the previous year, and the most money the state collected since at least 1994.
Without counting the tax rate increase in Campbell County, total lodging taxes increased by 47%.
"Attributing to record-breaking outdoor and park visitations, as well as a substantial increase in lodging prices, every county experienced a strong increase in lodging tax collections," Liu said in the release.
Due to the lodging tax rate increasing from 2% to 4% on April 1, 2021, collections in Campbell County grew 150.3% from the 2021 fiscal year to 2022, the most of any county, an increase from $364,513 to $912,251.
For all other counties, Big Horn had the biggest increase of 66.3%, followed by Laramie at 62.5%, with Johnson, Park, Sheridan, Sublette, and Teton counties all over a 50%, while Natrona County was near the middle at 39.7%.
Teton County, which increased 50.6%, had the largest lodging tax collection of $11,096,775, an increase from $7,366,013 in the previous year, and the most the county has collected since at least the 2011 fiscal year.