The Wyoming Legislature will consider a bill that would put a measure banning real-estate transfer taxes on the ballot in November.

House Joint Resolution 11 would ask voters if they would like to add a single sentence to the constitution that reads, “No tax shall be levied upon the transfer of title to or an interest in real property.”

Under current regulations, the state of Wyoming could levy a real-estate transfer tax, which is essentially a sales tax on real estate. Previous efforts to institute the tax have failed, including bills that would have allowed counties to decide whether to implement the tax locally.

Jackson’s elected officials have long eyed a real-estate transfer tax as a way to augment the town’s tax revenue without having to implement a property tax.

“I hate to see a constitutional amendment that would take this tool permanently out of the toolbox for towns and counties that are struggling to find resources to pay for services,” Jackson Mayor Mark Barron said. “In Teton County, where real-estate sales far exceed sales tax revenue, this might be a financial tool we want in the future.”

In Jackson, a real-estate tax could support affordable housing or START services, Barron said.

Jackson real-estate brokers have said they support a transfer-tax ban.
Janine Bay Teske, who is on the legislative committee of the Teton Board of Realtors, said her organization supports the measure.

“Anything we can do to keep the cost of ownership down for our clients is a good thing,” she said. “We also believe home ownership is an important part of building a sense of community.”

Bay Teske said the Teton Board of Realtors was not officially lobbying for the measure but the Wyoming Association of Realtors would have a lobbyist drumming up support for the bill.

Even without coordination at the local level, legislators in Cheyenne reported receiving more than 20 e-mails from Jackson Hole real-estate agents, the vast majority of which were form letters in favor of the bill.

Despite the e-mail campaign, the majority of Teton County legislators have said they do not support the bill.

Sen. Grant Larson, R-Jackson, said he would vote against the measure if it ever made it to the Senate.

Rep. Monte Olsen, who in past years introduced a bill that would have allowed individual counties to implement a real-estate transfer tax, said in an e-mail he did not support the idea but would likely vote in favor of the bill when it came up for introduction “and listen to the debate.”

Rep. Pete Jorgensen, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said he did not support it, as well.

“Why would we preclude anything with a constitutional amendment when we have such an unbalanced tax structure and our revenue is not staying in an uphill trajectory?” he said.

Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson, said he had not seen the bill yet and, therefore, wasn’t sure if he supported it.

All said they were unsure of the bill’s chances of making it into committee. The Legislature is focusing on the state’s biennial budget and any nonbudget bill takes a two-thirds majority vote to be considered.