Wyoming Realtors Spent Nearly $550,000 to Pass Property Tax Change

Laurie Urbigkit, director of government affairs for Wyoming Realtors and treasurer of the 4Wyoming political action committee, said a proposed constitutional amendment Creating a separate tax class for homes in Wyoming is something real estate agents have wanted for a long time.

“For years we thought we needed to have a fourth level for housing,” she said. “We always supported it and always wanted to do it.

“It has long been our position to support any legislation that helps people stay in their homes. Too many people are in really difficult situations.”

Voters will decide the fate of Amendment A on Tuesday, and Wyoming Realtors is doing everything it can to pass it. So far this fall, they have spent $544,047 to convince voters to vote “yes” on A, according to the latest campaign finance report filed Friday. This included creating a website, billboard and web advertisements.

“We did everything I could think of at this point,” Urbigkit said.

To put that number in perspective, no other state-level independent PAC spent that much money during this year’s or 2022 election season in Wyoming.

Wyoming’s spending marks the largest expenditure by a PAC since Right For Wyoming, a financing arm of U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman’s gubernatorial campaign in Wyoming in 2018, spent $650,000 on the primaries that year.

The Wyoming Stockmen For Liberty PAC has spent $31,411 this general election season, almost all of which has gone to opposing Amendment A, Treasurer Michele McGuire said.

The Stockmen for Liberty have taken out several advertisements against the amendment, including one describing it as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” “intentionally deceptive” and a “fake real estate tax credit.” Another ad from the group attempted to draw comparisons between Wyoming and Colorado if the amendment were to pass.

Liberty’s Place 4U, a well-known conservative group in Casper, also campaigned against the amendment on Facebook but has not spent any money on it.

Many members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus have also spoken out against the amendment.

When it was read for a third time in the House of Representatives in 2023, 15 lawmakers who are members of or politically connected to the group voted in favor of the bill.

The specific reasons for opposing the amendment ranged from concerns that it could actually increase property taxes to concerns that it could result in tax increases on other sectors to maintain current levels of government spending.

Urbigkit said she still hasn’t heard a good reason to oppose the amendment.

“It’s definitely a scare tactic when they say this kind of thing increases taxes,” she said.

Why so much?

Urbigkit said there are a few reasons why the brokers are so motivated to try to pass the amendment, which she considers “a very big deal.”

The biggest is their role in advocating for homeowners in Wyoming. Urbigkit considers Wyoming Realtors to be the only organization dedicated exclusively to this group of people.

Some people might wonder if a real estate agent’s help extends beyond the home buying and selling process, but Urbigkit said it does for any reputable real estate agent, considering the average time people spend in staying in a house is only seven years.

“If you’re a good real estate agent, you stay in touch with people and you help people,” she said. “They refer you to their friends and become like family to you in some ways.”

Urbigkit said 4Wyoming was created specifically to receive money from brokers and non-brokers, a group she said has also donated significant sums to the cause. The group reported that 100% of its donations came through the organization Wyoming Realtors.

“It concerns me that one special interest group can influence so many real estate agents in Wyoming,” McGuire said.

State Sen. Stacy Jones, R-Rock Springs, is a real estate agent by profession who supports the amendment.

Jones said another part of the amendment that real estate agents like is the ability to split residential properties into their own tax assessment subclass, separate from commercial and agricultural properties. She said this opens up a much easier path to taxing homes at a lower rate.

“The No. 1 goal is to tax housing responsibly,” Jones said.

McGuire believes that creating a separate subclass for residential property is tantamount to picking winners and losers from the different tax classes.

“We are against dividing and conquering smaller subclasses of people,” she said.

Jones said the Wyoming Realtors received a significant financial grant from the National Association of Realtors, which also helped with their campaign efforts. Urbigkit said they also had a particularly successful fundraiser in Jackson.

Broader concerns

McGuire said she had spoken to a few real estate agents in Wheatland who were unaware of the group’s lobbying activities and were offended that the group had taken these steps on their behalf.

She also shared how Colorado proposed a constitutional amendment in 2023 to lower assessed valuations for many classes of real estate, including certain new subclasses of real estate. That amendment was rejected by Colorado voters by a margin of 60% to 40%.

“To play the same card here makes us nervous,” McGuire said.

Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, works in commercial real estate. Ide is concerned that if the amendment passes, any future property tax cut will simply shift the tax burden to different classes of property.

He also said the brokers could have spent their money better by campaigning for candidates who would make cuts to overall government spending in Wyoming.

“All Wyoming taxpayers would benefit significantly from having more fiscal conservatives in state political offices, working to pass significant tax reform legislation … coupled with significant spending cuts,” he said. “Nothing really changes if we just move the property tax goalposts without significant budget cuts.”

A property tax initiative that would cut taxes by 50% for most homeowners will likely be before Wyoming voters in 2026. Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, believes the only way to make this effort legal is to pass Amendment A.

“Passing the constitutional amendment is the only way we will see long-term tax relief in Wyoming,” he said.

Urbigkit said she is cautiously optimistic that the amendment will pass. She has also held seminars in three different parts of the state to raise awareness of the amendment and what it does.

“We’ve had a good reception, a lot of people seem to understand it,” Urbigkit said. “We have done everything we can to inform voters, we have left no stone unturned.”

4Wyoming spent $16,000 with Cowboy State Daily as part of its advertising efforts.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at [email protected].