Wyoming Sees Historic High Tax Collections For July 2024

A recent insight from the Wyoming Economic Analysis Division shows that July of 2024 marked the single highest month of total sales & use tax collections ever recorded in the Cowboy State.

The money earned on sales and use taxes in July summed to $94.7 million, which is $4.9 million (+5.4%) more than July in 2023.

Wyoming first adopted a general sales tax in 1935, and since then the rate has risen to 4% with additional local sales taxes across some parts of the state.

15 of the 23 counties saw year-over-year increases in collections.

Niobrara County experienced the largest increase in collections, up 176.5% from July last year. Platte County saw the biggest decrease, down 24.8% -- but note, Niobrara's contribution to the total state-wide collections is only about 1%.

Washakie County makes up for 2% of the overall state sales & use tax contributions and was up a remarkable 105.2% year-over-year.

As far as industry goes, construction jumped up 120.9% in collections. The mining sector suffered the most with a drop of 16.3% from July 2023.

Transportation and utilities saw a 37.8% gain state-wide since July of 2023, yet ducation and health sunk 8.6% in sales and use tax collections.

Natrona County makes up for 10% of the state-wide gains and was up 4.8% in sales and use tax collections this year. Laramie County contributes 15% overall and is up 7.3%.

Other highlights from the quarterly insight shows that mining employment is still down compared to pre-pandemic levels, down 3,200 jobs since February 2020.

Average active oil rigs were 13 in July and the conventional gas rig count was two. A year ago, there were 17 oil rigs and 3 conventional gas rigs.