State tax revenue rebounds

By Nick Reynolds
Casper Star-Tribune
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
CASPER — Wyoming enjoyed its largest one-year rebound in sales, lodging and use tax collections in more than a decade this year, according to a new report from Wyoming’s Economic Analysis Division. 
Despite this recovery, however, total collections are still 15 percent lower than they were before the 2015 economic downturn; a symptom of a state economy centered around its volatile energy sector. 
Published Monday afternoon, this year’s version of the annual report showed that an improving energy sector – fueled by increases in oil and natural gas prices and rising levels of mining activity – fed most of the gains seen this year, as made evident by the counties that experienced the largest improvements: Though annual sales tax collections increased in all but three counties across the state, the largest jumps were seen in Converse County (85.1 percent), Sublette County (61.8 percent), Niobrara County (44.2 percent) as well as Platte, Sweetwater and Campbell counties, whose receipts each increased by at least 20 percent. 
According to the report, these numbers were mainly driven by increased drilling. Tax collections generated by that activity rose by more than 57 percent this year thanks to the growth of industry-adjacent businesses, like water hauling services or equipment outfitters. According to recently-released numbers from the Wyoming division of the Small Business Administration, small business lending activity increased by more than 6 percent this year, with approximately $26.5 million of that – nearly three quarters of all Wyoming SBA loans made this year – going to rural communities. 
Much of that, according to Deputy District Director Deb Farris, is due to guaranteed lending programs for businesses related to the state’s largest industry, something made clear by the report as well: According to the state, other mining-adjacent industries — such as manufacturing, warehousing, and repair and maintenance services — also experienced large increases of around 30 percent. 
While not as robust, sales tax performance in other areas of the market – an 11.1 percent increase in retail-related taxes, a nearly 12 percent increase for public administration services (which are tied to automobile purchases) – are indicative of something else: an improving economy. 
“It’s a sign of consumer confidence everywhere, whether it’s retail or services,” said Farris. 
This was seen partly in tourist-rich counties like Teton and Park, which experienced double-digit increases in lodging tax collections from this past year at a time where visitation in the national parks has been gradually increasing. Other counties with strong tourism sectors, like Sheridan, also saw significant increases in retail and lodging tax collections. 
According to Wenlin Liu, the chief economist for the state Economic Analysis Division, the retail trade and leisure and hospitality (mainly restaurants and lodging) trade contributed to more than 80 percent of the increase seen in tax collections in Teton County. For Sheridan County, retail trade alone contributed 50 percent of the total increase: something of particular importance for counties without strong energy sectors. 
“For counties without much mining, for example, retail trade and leisure & hospitality comprises about three-fourth of total sales tax collections in Teton, and about two-thirds of total tax collections in Sheridan County,” wrote Liu in an email. 
Teton County, in particular, enjoyed an increase in lodging tax collections of nearly 20 percent, something that is tied intrinsically to activity in the national parks. According to monthly reports administered by the National Park Service, as of September, Yellowstone National Park had seen nearly 3.86 million recreational visitors to the park this year, while Grand Teton National Park had nearly 4.5 million, though this figure includes both recreational and non-recreational visits. Though an official report won’t be released until January, this would mirror the increasing numbers of visits over the past several years: For reference, Yellowstone’s busiest year on-record, in 2016, saw nearly 4.3 million visitors. 
“Jackson is different than the whole state in that we’re based right at the entrance to the parks,” said Riley Frances Boone, operations manager for the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce. “[Visitors] physically have to go through us to get in the entrance. Every year, tourism is growing a little more and more people are learning about Jackson.”