Billboards around town have popped up saying support for the Optional 1-Percent tax is harmful to the coal industry.
“You’re not a friend to coal if you vote for the 1-percent,” reads one of the advertisements in the cycle of ads on the electronic billboard at the intersection of Skyline Drive and Westover Road.
The ad is nothing but white lettering on a red background, with no identification as to the organization promoting the message.
Bill Fortner, a Gillette resident, said he is a member of a group that is responsible for the billboards and the message it promotes.
He didn’t want to discuss the size of the group or who else is a volunteer. He did say they aren’t part of a political action committee and paid for the advertisements with private donations.
He said like-minded volunteers are going door-to-door and handing out pamphlets, in addition to paying for advertisements.
Industry share
Fortner said if the tax passes it will be harmful to Campbell County.
“We’ve been supporting this tax for 40 years, and it’s not sustainable for another 40,” Fortner explained.
The tax supports streets and sidewalks, parks, sewer, water, and social services. This past year, Gillette’s share of the tax paid for the Gurley Overpass deck rehabilitation.
On the county level, in 2018, the largest share, 31 percent, went to solid waste operations. Nearly 24 percent went to county road maintenance and pavement management.
Every four years, residents vote on whether to keep the tax.
Fortner described the impact of the tax as a cycle. He said the tax harms industry, which leaves fewer jobs. In turn, people are poorer and in need of the services the tax supports.
Industry does pay a large portion of the tax. According to state figures, the mining sector pays around 30 percent of the total revenue from the optional county sales tax. The mining sector includes oil and gas, trona, uranium, and not just coal.
That percentage of the county’s sales-tax revenue paid for that sector used to be double that percentage a few years ago.
“They don’t like taxes,” Fortner said.
The larger picture
It’s true that taxes can hurt business. Just how much a 1-percent optional local tax is harming the coal industry isn’t clear.
The bulk of the coal companies’ tax burden comes from severance and ad valorem taxes, which provide the lion’s share of state and county revenue. And this doesn’t include federal taxes.
Rick Curtsinger, spokesperson for Cloud Peak Energy, said the company takes no position on the Optional 1 Percent tax. However, he did say the tax burden to the industry from other taxes is quite high.
“Coal producers and suppliers in Campbell County pay a host of different taxes. Federal coal in the PRB is among the heaviest taxed commodities in the world, so any tax change should consider the full impact of the total tax burden,” Curtsinger said.
According to the Wyoming Mining Association, severance tax and ad valorem, for coal production and property, was about $570 million in 2013. Production slowed considerably since then, but the tax structure hasn’t changed, meaning the burden to companies is about the same.
Sales and use taxes were $31 million for the entire state, which has a tax rate of 4 percent. The county’s Optional 1 percent is added on top of this and applies only to counties, like Campbell County, that enact it.
According to figures by Energy in Depth, the oil and gas industry pays statewide $8.2 million in 2017 for sales and use tax.
“Over half of the tax burden on a ton of federally leased coal comes back to Wyoming and local governments,” Curstinger said. “Opponents of mining have frequently singled out individual taxes to call for increases as a way to make coal production uneconomic. Cloud Peak Energy does not have a position on renewal of the 1 Percent county sales tax, but other tax changes being considered could have a detrimental impact on the mining sector and other key Wyoming industries.”
Voters in Campbell County will vote on the tax during the regular election on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
