by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff As promised, here is the first installment in a series on why and how to reform government spending. This article addresses the "why" question; in addition to economic analysis, there is a distinct philosophical reason why government should be small and strictly limited. A philosophical examination of the role of gove...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff My previous work looked at state and local government wages in the state of Wyoming. On average, in the state of Wyoming, there is a wage premium of 23% in state government. This analysis uses wages data from the Bureau of Labor and Statics, that does not include benefits. Local government employees' wages are similar...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff Starting this Spring, the Joint Revenue Interim Committee will take a second look at a number of the failed tax bills from the spring 2019 session. One of the bills that could be reintroduced in the next session is Wyoming House Bill 220 (HB 220), "The National Retail Fairness Act". This bill will be in the discussion...

by Philip Baron In 2017 Wyoming had 292 state and local government employees per 1,000 people working in the private sector (according to employment data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics). The state government made up 5.4%1 of the employment in the state in 2017. Local government made up 16.7% of the state's employment for the same year. Wha...

By Sven R Larson, Ph.D. How would you feel about a new kind of tax to fund our highways, one that was based on the miles you drive? Would you like to see it added to the taxes we already pay? In anticipation of topics that will be discussed in the interim committee season, please take a moment and consider the following idea. Suppose the legislatur...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff In response to questions from a couple of blog readers, here is a short review of the industrial structure of the Wyoming economy. One reader wanted to know how much each industry contributes to our state's economy; the other asked what industries provide the biggest tax base. These two questions are about the same to...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff As I have noted on a couple of occasions now, 2019 is shaping up to be a great year to start reforming government spending here in Wyoming. Two sessions in a row, the legislature has rejected massive tax hikes and even refused to appoint a commission to overhaul our tax system. Time is ripe to talk about spending refo...

by Philip Baron According to a Wyoming Taxpayers Association report, that was distributed to the legislators in the 2019 session, a three-person household pays in $3,070 in taxes and receives $27,600 in public services. This analysis only considers taxes as a source of revenue and does not look at all of the funding through fees and other sources o...

Natrona County School District faced scrutiny after the non-profit group OpenTheBooks published records of nearly $10 million in credit card purchases – highlighting voids in financial transparency breeding excessive spending culture throughout Wyoming. More than a year's worth of credit card records for Natrona County published demonstrated a shoc...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff Setting the Scene: America's Opioid Epidemic According to the Wyoming Department of Health, 67% of drug-related deaths in Wyoming occurred because of prescription drug overdoses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in 2017, 49,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses, with overall overd...