Less money

Sales and use tax collections down in county
 
Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
Voters went to the polls on Tuesday to approve continuation of the local one cent sales tax, but the amount of money that provides to local government continued to decrease in the last fiscal year, according to a report from the State of Wyoming.
Despite an increase in sales and use tax collections statewide, Weston County was one of only three counties in the state to experience a decrease in sales tax collection in fiscal year 2018 as compared with fiscal 2017, according to the Wyoming Department of Revenue’s sales and use tax report for fiscal 2018. The report indicates that this is the second year of decline for the county. 
“Annual sales tax collections in twenty of Wyoming’s twenty-three counties expanded from previous year levels. Converse County recorded the fastest increase of 85.1 percent, followed by Sublette County’s 61.8 percent and Niobrara County’s 44.2 percent from fiscal year 2017 levels,” the report states. 
Total 4 percent sales tax collection in Weston County for fiscal 2017 was $4,508,503 and in fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018), it dropped to $4,386,555. 
For fiscal 2018, the county’s share of the state-imposed 4 percent sales tax collections dropped by $121,948, or 2.7 percent. 
The state’s share of sales tax collections is 69.0 percent. The total realized by the state in total statewide collections increased by 17.1 percent to $686,766,223 in fiscal 2018. The state’s share in fiscal 2017 was $586,655,046.
Other counties that experienced decreases in 4 percent sales tax collections included Crook County at 8.7 percent, Goshen County at 0.5 percent and Washakie County at 0.9 percent. 
Weston County’s largest sales tax decreases were in transportation and warehousing sectors, down 52.2 percent; education and health services, down 38.1 percent; mining (including oil and gas extraction), down 30 percent; and professional and business services, down 26. 2 percent. 
A breakdown of the county’s taxable sales by industry shows that mining tax totals equaled $149,995 for fiscal 2018, down from $214,352 in fiscal 2017. The state, on the other hand, saw a 57.2 percent increase in the same industry, bringing in a total of $114,641,573 in taxes, the largest increase in any sector. 
The largest tax increases in the county’s sales tax collections occurred in the other services category, including maintenance and repair, at 41 percent; financial activities, up 41.1 percent; and manufacturing, up 53.5 percent. 
Lodging tax collections for fiscal 2018 in the county also increased by 5.8 percent, or $3,635, over fiscal 2017, while the state collections increased by 13. 6 percent.