The Facts Behind the 50% Homeowner Property Tax Initiative - 6 Questions and Answers

Wyoming homeowners are hearing a lot about what a 50% reduction in the taxable value of their primary residence could mean for schools, law enforcement, fire protection, ambulance services and other essential local services.
 

Those concerns deserve to be taken seriously - but they also deserve to be based on actual numbers, the way Wyoming’s tax and school-funding systems work, and what the initiative actually does.
 

     A 50% reduction in a qualifying homeowner’s assessed value is not the same thing as a 50% reduction in government revenue.

     The initiative does not direct counties to cut their budgets by 50%.

     It does not automatically reduce school funding by 50%.
     And it does not specify that a particular number of deputies, firefighters or other public employees must be eliminated.
 

That doesn't mean there are no financial questions.
There are.
Counties and other taxing entities will have to account for changes in property tax collections, and policymakers will need to determine how best to maintain essential services.
 

But those discussions should be based on real impacts - not worst case assumptions.
 

Get the Facts at Your Fingertips

Download the complete fact sheet here for an easy-to-share reference:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eBH0Ttk3gEum-bD3rS4uj-w5Tnwkjh8b/view?usp=sharing

For added convenience, each of the six questions is also answered individually in this website page's sub-tabs (check the menu bar), making it easy to find the information you need when responding to incorrect assumptions, misleading claims, or questions in writing and on social media.
 

Download the fact sheet, bookmark this page, and use these answers as a resource whenever you need to SHOW THE MATH.