No doubt about the state's spending spree

No doubt about the state’s spending spree
 
To the Editor:
This is an answer to the question of the week. There is no doubt that Wyoming has been on a spending spree because of the abundance of money that was available, and if there is money, politicians feel they have a mandate to spend it. The money fountain is going dry and probably will not recover. Coal will persist with limited sales and oil will probably recover to above $50 per barrel. That will not cure the basic problem that Wyoming spends nearly 10 times as much for services, according to some reports, as it receives from its citizens. This means that for every person who moves to Wyoming, the amount for the citizens
diminishes.
There is a group with their head in the sand who seems to think this party can go on and on. They have convinced enough of the legislators of this idea that they have been able to stop any movement to change the tax system. During Gov. Stanley Hathaway’s term the state was almost unable to write a check so he made an effort to get a severance tax on minerals, and he succeeded. We have a cushion available now but it will not last long.
Cutting spending will help but the cuts should be selective where they do little harm. Total budget cuts are the easy but inefficient method. The tax system in Wyoming needs a major revision to require citizens to pay for some of their services and for business to pay a share of the burden. At the present a business which does not produce minerals only pays ad valorem tax on its property and pays nothing on any profit it earns. The people could be paying an income tax in incomes above $100,000. We have never hesitated to tax minerals, so there is no reason not to tax the wind. It is a natural resource and companies only come here to make a profit from it.
Increasing taxes is always difficult and unpleasant but that is what the legislators signed up for.
 
— Don Thorson