Wyoming does not impose an individual income tax

# Summary

Wyoming does not impose an individual income tax. There is no Wyoming individual income tax return and no withholding on wages. Neither is there a local income tax anywhere in Wyoming — the state has expressly preempted that field.

Two qualifications on the strength of this, both stated below rather than buried:

• Wyoming's constitution does not prohibit an income tax. It conditions one, by requiring full credit for sales, use and ad valorem taxes paid. An income tax could be enacted by ordinary legislation subject to that condition.
• The Wyoming Department of Revenue does not state this position anywhere. The determination rests on the Legislature's own research office, the constitution, and Title 39 itself.

# Wyoming Legislature statement

The Legislative Service Office — the Legislature's Legal and Budget/Fiscal research office — publishes Wyoming's tax structure with rates and collections. In "Wyoming Statutory Tax Structure: Title 39," dated June 3, 2025, the rates table records:

Individual Income Tax — FY25 base rate: 0% (Note Art. 15, Sec. 18) — FY24 collections: $0

Corporate Income Tax — FY25 base rate: 0% (Note Art. 15, Sec. 18) — FY24 collections: $0

The same table lists what Wyoming does collect: property tax, severance taxes on gas, coal, oil, trona, uranium and other valuable deposits, sales and use tax, lodging tax, fuel taxes, cigarette and tobacco taxes, liquor revenue, and a wind generation tax.

A zero rate paired with zero collections, published by the Legislature's own research office for the fiscal year covering tax year 2025, is a direct statement rather than an inference from silence.

# Constitutional position — Wyo. Const. art. 15, § 18

Wyoming's constitution addresses income taxation, but it permits rather than prohibits. Article 15, Section 18 provides in full:

"Sec. 18. Full tax credit allowed against any liability arising from a tax on income. No tax shall be imposed upon income without allowing full credit against such tax liability for all sales, use, and ad valorem taxes paid in the taxable year by the same taxpayer to any taxing authority in Wyoming."

The section was amended by a resolution adopted by the 1973 legislature, ratified by a vote of the people at the general election held on November 5, 1974, and proclaimed in effect on December 12, 1974.

What this means in practice. Wyoming may impose an income tax, provided every taxpayer receives full credit for the sales, use and ad valorem taxes they paid that year to any Wyoming taxing authority. For most taxpayers that credit would absorb much or all of the liability, which is why the provision is often described as making an income tax impractical — but impractical is not the same as forbidden.

The distinction matters for how durable this determination is. Wyoming sits with Florida, whose constitution caps a personal income tax by reference to a federal credit, rather than with Texas, where the legislature is flatly forbidden to impose one. Reintroducing an individual income tax in Wyoming would require legislation satisfying § 18, not a constitutional amendment.

The Legislative Service Office's rates table annotates both the individual and corporate 0% entries with "(Note Art. 15, Sec. 18)", tying the current zero rate to this provision.

# No local income tax either

Title 39 of the Wyoming Statutes contains a chapter headed "Income Tax." It consists of a single operative section, and that section imposes nothing — it reserves the field.

W.S. § 39-12-101, "Preemption by state":

"The state of Wyoming does hereby preempt for itself the field of imposing and levying income taxes, earning taxes, or any other form of tax based on wages or other income and no county, city, town or other political subdivision shall have the right to impose, levy or collect such taxes."

Two consequences.

First, the answer covers local government. No Wyoming county, city, town, or other political subdivision may impose an income tax, an earnings tax, or any other tax based on wages or income. A question that has to be checked jurisdiction by jurisdiction in many states is settled statewide here.

Second, the breadth of the preempted field is useful in its own right. The phrase "income taxes, earning taxes, or any other form of tax based on wages or other income" describes what Wyoming has reserved and not exercised, and it is broader than "income tax" alone.

# What Wyoming does impose

This page is limited to the individual income tax. From the Legislative Service Office's June 2025 rates table, Wyoming's principal taxes are:

• Sales tax at 4% statewide, plus 0-3% local option.
• Use tax at 4% statewide, plus 0-3% local option.
• Property tax, levied locally; assessment ratios of 100% for mining, 11.5% industrial, and 9.5% for all other property.
• Severance taxes: gas 6%; surface coal 6.0% and underground coal 3.75%; oil 6%; trona 4%; uranium 0-5% and other valuable deposits 2%.
• Lodging tax at 3% statewide plus a local component.
• Fuel taxes at $0.24 per gallon for both gasoline and special fuels.
• Cigarette tax at $0.60 per pack; tobacco products at 20% of wholesale or 10% of retail, plus 60 cents per ounce on moist snuff; e-cigarettes and vapor material at 15% of wholesale or 7.5% of retail.
• Wind generation tax at $1.00 per megawatt hour produced, beginning three years after a turbine first produces electricity.

The LSO notes that 2025 Session Law, Chapter 31 lowered the severance tax rate on surface coal from 6.5% to 6.0%.

# Coverage and verification

Tax years covered: 2025.

Verified on 2026-08-13 against the Wyoming Legislative Service Office's "Wyoming Statutory Tax Structure: Title 39" dated June 3, 2025, the Wyoming Constitution as published by the Secretary of State including amendments through November 18, 2024, and Wyoming Statutes Title 39 as published in this library.

Sourcing note, recorded deliberately. The Wyoming Department of Revenue does not state this position. Its homepage, its mission page, and the Excise Tax Division's FAQ were each retrieved and contain no mention of income tax at all; the Division's stated remit is sales, use, lodging, cigarette and estate tax. This determination therefore rests on the Legislature rather than on the tax administering agency, which is unusual among the states in this corpus and is noted so that no future reader assumes a Department of Revenue source exists.

# Sources

Wyoming Legislative Service Office, Wyoming Statutory Tax Structure: Title 39 (June 3, 2025) — https://wyoleg.gov/InterimCommittee/2025/03-202506032-01WyomingtaxstructureratesandcollectionsJune32025.pdf

Wyoming Constitution, art. 15, § 18 (Wyoming Secretary of State) — https://sos.wyo.gov/Forms/Publications/WYConstitution.pdf

W.S. § 39-12-101, as published in this library.