From the pages of
Sublette Examiner
Volume 6, Number 35 - November 23, 2006
brought to you online by Pinedale Online

County sales/tax revenue up 278 percent

by Cat Urbigkit

Sublette County Commissioners said that if anyone doubts that the county is experiencing major impacts due to industrial development, they need only to look at the revenue side of the equation, noting that sales and use tax figures provide a prime example.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, Sublette County Socio-Economic Analyst Jeffrey Jacquet presented sales and use tax figure for the fiscal years 2001-2006.

“The numbers are pretty staggering,” Jacquet said, explaining that sales and use tax revenue in Sublette County has increased by about 287 percent since 2001, with use tax increasing faster than sales tax.

These numbers equate to about $1.3 billion work of sales transactions in the county in fiscal year 2006.

The majority of sales tax revenue comes from the mining industry, according to Jacquet, with monthly fluctuations in sales tax activity mirroring the monthly rig count in the county.

Despite its low (four percent) tax rate, the county ranked fifth in the state in sales tax revenue generated in 2006.

Jacquet noted, “Even though Sublette County makes up only about 1.5 percent of Wyoming’s population, the County is responsible for 6.5 percent of the sales/use tax revenue received by the state and is home to about 8.5 percent of the total sales activity occurring in Wyoming.”

While industrial development in the county has resulted in the boom to the tax coffers, Jacquet noted, “The rest of the economy is kind of matching it.”

He pointed to similar increases in tax revenue from the wholesale and retail trade, real estate, food and accommodations, and construction industry sectors of Sublette County’s economy.

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