The Legislative Service Office and the Wyoming Department of Revenue presented the idea of combining the state's sales tax and use tax statutes into a single chapter, saying most provisions are already identical and a single chapter would reduce future drafting errors.
"The sales tax is in title 15 of our statutes, and the use tax is in title 16," LSO analyst Josh Anderson told the committee. "The vast majority of the provisions ... are identical."
Department of Revenue Director Brett Fanning said the change would be largely organizational rather than policy-making. "This bill is gonna be a long bill. But at the end of the day, it is just, categorizing these together," Fanning said, adding that the use tax has been on the books since the 1930s and that putting both taxes in one place "is not a new tax." He noted administrative details that would need attention, including definitions for storage and sales price, contractor registration provisions currently only in the use tax statutes, and distribution language tied today to the "sales and use tax" concept.
Why it matters: committee members raised that combining the chapters could reduce future bipartisan drafting mistakes when bills amend sales or use tax rules separately. Department and LSO staff said a combined chapter would also surface administrative provisions now only in one title, such as contractor-material use-tax registration and county treasurer credits.
Discussion: staff identified several technical items the draft would need to resolve, including: harmonizing definitions (sales price, storage/use, vendor, NAICS references), confirming that contractor and project registration language from the use tax appears in the combined chapter, and preserving the statutory provision that county treasurers keep 5% of the use tax they collect (39-16-111(h) as cited in testimony). Fanning also warned the committee to expect questions that the change "adds a new tax" and advised staff to be prepared to explain that the use tax already exists.
Outcome and next steps: the committee took a voice vote to pursue drafting; members asked LSO and the Department of Revenue to prepare a draft and to return with a list of technical issues and a redline showing moved language. No policy changes were adopted at the meeting.
Ending note: staff said the work would likely produce a lengthy draft and recommended the committee review contractor-related provisions and distribution language during the next meeting.