Wyoming counties owed $42 million in unpaid mineral taxes

Wyoming’s bust hit schools and counties particularly hard. Losses came from fewer students filling chairs, fewer shoppers in local stores and fewer workers in oil and gas fields and coal mines.

But often overlooked during a budget crisis is unpaid taxes by the very companies hit hardest by a bust.

A recent report from a local landowners group outlines 12 Wyoming counties that are short $42 million in delinquent property taxes going back a dozen years.

“Our entire state is suffering following the most recent bust,” Powder River Basin Resource Council Chairwoman Joyce Evans said in a statement. “Several counties have had to cut back on personnel and services, and some have been dealing with school closures. We can’t afford to continue to allow money rightfully owed to counties to go uncollected.”

Read more: http://trib.com/business/energy/report-wyoming-counties-owed-million-in-unpaid-mineral-taxes/article_541551e5-507b-56a7-a93e-88a45ddc0350.html