WyoFile: Wyoming tribes press governor on taxation disparity

At an informal meeting with the Eastern Shoshone Business Council and three Northern Arapaho leaders, Gov. Matthew Mead pledged to examine the alleged imbalance between the money that tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation pay to the state in taxes and the value of services and infrastructure they receive in return.

“They think they’ve paid in more than they get back in terms of services,” the governor said after the private meeting in Fort Washakie. “And so what I’ve proposed for the next meeting is, I’ll come back and bring some of the revenue people, some of the economic analysis people, and just go over those numbers.”

The governor acknowledged the differences between the amount of severance tax that oil producers pay on the reservation and elsewhere in the state. The tribes have quoted disparities as wide as 22 percent on the reservation and 13 percent elsewhere. Mead sees the tribes’ issue, but he believes the taxation gap is narrower, 22 percent to 18 percent.