Sales tax expansion, real estate transfer tax bills fail

JACKSON — The House Revenue Committee was again disinterested in new taxes last week as it voted down a real estate transfer tax and an expansion of the sales tax from goods to services.

Teton County legislators supported the real estate tax. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort lobbied against the sales tax expansion.

Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Albany, was the lead sponsor on the sales tax bill. Pointing to a report on Wyoming’s estimated “tax capacity” — the ability to increase taxes while remaining competitive business-wise — she argued that Wyoming has plenty of “capacity.”

“We have a reputation for b...