The sad news. Tattered Cover to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

 Denver’s Tattered Cover files for bankruptcy, will close 3 stores and cut 27 jobs

Beloved book chain’s new CEO says company can no longer support 7 stores in Colorado

One of my favorite bookstores, although it hasn't been what it was when I first entered it back in the 1980s.

Sunday, December 10, 1922. War Surplus.

The cover of the Casper Daily Tribune had some truly important new on its cover, including the developing crisis over German reparations.  It wasn't that reason I decided to post the paper, however.

Rather, I posted it for this big war surplus store advertisement on page 2.  This is the earliest example of this I've seen.

Surplus stores were a feature of my childhood and even young adult years in a major way.  The "War Surplus Store" on 1st Street, on the Sandbar, was a somewhat disorganized collection of stuff guaranteed to fascinate a boy for as long as the boy's parents would allow him to wonder around in it, full of stuff dating back to World War Two.  It's now closed, of course, and instead is the outdoor clothing store Gear Up.

That wasn't Casper's last surplus store, however.  Yates, outside of town, fit that description, and was again fascinating.  It probably closed fifteen or so years ago when its owner relocated to Australian with his Australian wife, figuring that, even as a younger man, that with his savings and Australian social services, he'd no longer have to work.

I hope that worked out.

Laramie had a really small surplus store when I first lived there, but it closed while I lived there in the 80s.  Examples still exist, however.  Jax in Ft. Collins keeps on keeping on, although that's only a small part of its large collection of wares, and Billings retains a good surplus store to this day.

This location is a parking lot today:

James Reeb Mural, Casper Wyoming

This is the memorial to civil rights activist James Reeb in Casper Wyoming.  I should have taken this photograph when this mural was new, as its faded considerably since first painted, and it isn't even very old.

The competing Casper newspaper had a dramatic headline:

Japan gave up Jiaozhou Bay Territory, a former German possession.

The 1922 Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm. Recipients were awarded in Stockholm. Recipients were Niels Bohr of Denmark (Physics), Francis William Aston of the United Kingdom (Chemistry), Archibald Hill of the United Kingdom and Otto Fritz Meyerhof of Germany (Physiology or Medicine), Jacinto Benavente of Spain (Literature) and Fridtjof Nansen of Norway (Peace).

Saturday, July 1, 1922. The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 Starts.

Saturday weekly's were predictably patriotic on this July 1 Saturday of 1922.

The Saturday Evening Post went to press with what would have been a gender bending cover, women being an enduringly popular illustration topic then and now.

 

The Country Gentleman chose children as the theme, which they often did.

President Harding traveled to Gettysburg.

A group of Miners and Operators visited Harding at the White House.

Herbert Lord was sworn in as Director of the United States Agency of the Budget.

Lord had served in similar roles in the U.S. Army, from which he had just retired, and had proven very adept at it.

The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 commenced, with any major railroad strike being a national disaster at the time.  It would run into August.

In Wexford, the IRA derailed a train, that somehow being a revolutionary act that made sense, somehow.

Construction commenced on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the first planned regional shopping center.  It is still in operation.

Monday, December 19, 1921. Rockin' 1922

You may have noticed, if you are a regular reader here, that the daily entries for a century ago have very much trailed off. That may have been not noticed as the temporary daily ones for eighty years ago have picked up.

This is a history website, after all.

Anyhow, this 1921 Casper Daily Tribune is put up for two reasons, one in the front page above.

That's the headline "Year 1922 To Rock World".

I guess I've always associated the word "rock" like that, to come from "Rock and Roll". 

Apparently not.

And here's the next one:

528 West Yellowstone Highway today is an auto body shop . In 1921, however, it was the U.S. Army Goods Company, a surplus store. That caught my eye as just a block away, at 254 West 1st Street, there was a store when I was young called War Surplus.  It's now Gear Up, an outdoor clothing store.

We always called War Surplus the "Army store" when I was a kid, and my father referred to it as the "Army Navy Store".  I wonder if this nearby store was the same store, and it just moved a block deeper into the Sand Bar at a later date?

It was an enduring fixture of my youth, at any rate, and in the 60s and 70s it had a lot of genuine war surplus items from the 40s through the 70s.  It also sold Carhartts, and heavy work clothing, much like the store noted here on the way to the Standard Oil Refinery (now also long gone) did.

Anyhow, I've always associated that store with surplus becoming widely available after World War Two.  For whatever reason, I didn't associate the same thing with World War One.  I likely should have, as overproduction of some items occurred on such a vast scale in the Great War it caused a scandal, and a Congressional investigation, later.

Friday, June 10, 1921. Money.

The Bureau of Budget, the founding organization for what is now the Office of Management and Budget, came into being.  Likewise, so did the Government Accountability Office, hence ushering in a full century of fiscal accountability and wise use of Federal funds.

And a group of automobile dealers visited President Harding.

The late Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, was born on the Greek island of Corfu.

Blog Mirror: Pharmacy in World War II: The Drugstore

I'm related, by marriage, to a family that was, at one time, a family of pharmacists and which had a fonly remembered pharmacy here.  Hard not to recall that when reading this item.

Pharmacy in World War II: The Drugstore

Southern Rockies Nature Blog: Blog Stew — Best Eaten in Your Sleeping Bag

Ah geez. . .

Southern Rockies Nature Blog: Blog Stew — Best Eaten in Your Sleeping Bag:   • Now it will be CabelasBassProShopsSportsmansWarehouse.  There is an interesting angle as to what happens to the Remington firearms brand...

Does freakin' everything have to merge? 

Painted Bricks: Wyoming Territorial Seal, Big Hollow Food Coop, Laramie Wyoming

Painted Bricks: Wyoming Territorial Seal, Big Hollow Food Coop, La...: 

Wyoming Territorial Seal, Big Hollow Food Coop, Laramie Wyoming.

This is a nice rendition of the Territorial Seal of Wyoming on the Big Hollow Food Coop building in Laramie.  We've featured this building before, but we missed the seal in our prior photographs.  Indeed, one of our remote roving contributors to this blog just picked this one up.

Wyoming has a complicated history in regard to seals, and this one was actually the state's third.  This is additionally slightly complicated by the fact that some versions have the year 1868 at the top, rather than 1869.  1869 is, I believe, correct.

The seal depicts a mountain scene with a railroad running in the foreground in the top field.  In the bottom left it depicts a plow, shovel and shepherd's crook, symbolic of the state's industries.  The bottom right field depicts a raised arm with a drawn sabre.  The Latin inscription reads Cedant Arma Togae, which means "let arms yield to civil authority", which was the territorial motto.

This seal was an attractive one and in some ways it was a better looking seal than the one the state ultimately adopted.  The state actually went through an absurd process early in its history in attempting to adopt an official state seal that lead, at one time, the Federal mint simply assigning one for the purpose of large currency printing, which featured state seals at the time.  Part of the absurdity involved the design, which was describe in the original state statute rather than depicted, which lead to the sitting Governor hiring his own artist as he didn't like the one art of the one that had been in front of the legislature.  That caused a scandal as the one that he picked featured a topless woman, which had not been a feature of the legislative design, and ultimately it was corrected to the current design.

All in all, looking at the original one, I think they could have stuck with it.

May 26, 1920. Canning Clubs and hand rolled cigars.

A Canning Club Girl, May 26, 1920.

Girls Canning Clubs were a movement in the early 20th Century that was a reaction to a similar corn growing club for boys much in the same way that the Girl Scouts were a reaction to the Boy Scouts.  They started off as Tomato Clubs and evolved into general Canning Clubs, sometimes finding an expression in 4H.

I'm sure that canning is still done in 4H today and in recent years it seems to have undergone a bit of a revival.  My suspicion is that our current times will increase that trend.

Lee Ying, Washington D. C. Cigar maker.  May 26, 1920.

Lee Ying apparently operated his own shop and he didn't appear to be particularly pleased to be the subject of a newspaper photograph on May 26, 1920.  This probably was just another day at work for him.

Cigars, like canning, have enjoyed a bit of a revival recently.  Indeed, the things they're associated with have as well, two being whiskey and the concept, if not the actual practice, of leisure.

Rain

Pennys started out as Gold Rule.  This is the first one back in the day, in Kemmerer Wyoming.

Earlier this past week we published this:

Lex Anteinternet: Storm Clouds: Yesterday we published this: Lex Anteinternet: Gathering Storms. : Economists are openly speculating now that we may be entering a period ...

Which took note of this within it:

Lex Anteinternet: Gathering Storms.: Economists are openly speculating now that we may be entering a period of deflation. A drop in petroleum prices combined with a drop in so...

Today we have the news that JC Pennys, a company founded in Wyoming, is in bankruptcy.

I have to agree with this Forbes headline, however:

Don’t Blame The Pandemic: JCPenney Goes Bankrupt After Decades-Long Struggle To Reinvent Itself

Pennys has been having trouble for awhile, as anyone who has toured the former retail giant in recent years would know. Still, I hate to see this happen as I did occasionally buy clothing there.

And this isn't unique to Pennys.  As Forbes also noted:

The retailer joins Neiman Marcus, J.Crew and Stage Stores in seeking bankruptcy in recent weeks. It also follows in the footsteps of Sears, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2018.

Which isn't to say that this should be taken lightly.  Pennys was a big store, but it wasn't a Walmart.  I.e., it was higher quality and this reduces customer options fairly seriously.

And its one more blow in something that's rapidly reaching a depression level economic trend.

Blog Mirror: Southern Rockies Nature Blog: Ma Boyle's Amazing Outdoor Retailing Concept

Southern Rockies Nature Blog: Ma Boyle's Amazing Outdoor Retailing Concept: Gert Boyle (Outside). Reading a post in Outside online about Gert Boyle, who built Columbia Sportswear from a little hat company to wha...

51%

That's the percentage of the local grocery market that Walmart occupies.

And that's a lot.

Not that those groceries would have been bought at local grocery stores anyhow.  The town has one, but it's a specialty store.

As late as at least the 1960s there were quite a few local grocery stores left in the county, although even then the market was dominated by national grocers.  By the 1980s the number had dwindled down to three.  Now there's only one left and its not a general grocer.  No real local grocery stores are left.

Still, this is a disturbing, if understandable, trend. The grocery stores that do exist here are all part of national chains, so what claim do they have, other than that they are specialty grocery stores, over Walmart or Sam's Club?  Not much other than that, although that is definitely something.

To date, Americans seem to be largely comfortable, at the grocery isle level anyhow, with this trend. Walmarts drive prices down which benefits consumers. They also drive wages down and wipe out local retailers, which doesn't, as it converts middle class occupations into low paying jobs.  The connection between the two seems, however, oddly lost on most people.

And regionally, a fact of the matter is that with a highly transient population, loyalty to local retailers is of course going to be largely absent, for the most part.

This trend isn't unique to grocery stores, we'd note.  It's simply that its expressed here in a way that directly and obviously impacts everyone. . . the dinner table.  It's not a trend that is inevitable, it's one that we simply allow, without thinking much about it, and in everything.

Foods, Seasons, and our Memories. A Hundred Years Ago: The Last Fresh Vegetable Month

The last garden I put in, 2017.

Another interesting entry on A Hundred Years Ago.

The Last Fresh Vegetable Month

I've touched on this here in the past, but one thing that's very much different from our current, refrigerated, freezer, grocery store frozen food, transportation directly from Mexico, world, is the way we eat.

And by that I don't mean the latest wacky food fetish (you know, don't eat that, eat this, no don't, no do, um,. . . ).

No, I mean that it varied seasonally, by necessity.  And beyond that the seasons dictated to a certain extent what you ate at all.

On prior entries here you'll find photographs of  grocery stores with signs painted on them noting that they "bought vegetables".  Indeed, at the courthouse in Sheridan Wyoming there's a great photograph of downtown Sheridan in its early days with a store painted on its side with that it "buys and sells" vegetables.  I.e, it was doing the locavore thing by necessity.

Indeed, that local produce history, dimly remembered and somewhat inaccurately recalled, is one of the founding mythic memories of the Locavore movement, that movement which, as an environmental ethos, demands that you "eat local".

Pueblo Indian, 1890, living the lifestyle I would, were it an option.

I'm not dissing this.  Indeed, in my imaginary world in which I get to live just the way I'd want to, I'd be one of those guys who ate local as much as possible.  I'd put in a big garden every year and for meat I'd eat the fish, fowl and game animals I shot during the year.  Yes, I'd go full 1719 if I had the option.

Shoot, I might even brew my own beer.

My wife, who doesn't want to live in 1719, and prefers 2019, keeps this from occurring, although in years past I have put in a big garden (I'm on year two right now of a well failure I haven't addressed) and as we raise beef, we have a lot of grass fed beef that appears on our table.  But the idea remains attractive.

Anyhow, one thing about having in the past having sort of lived that lifestyle, first by necessity and then by design, and because I'm a student of history as well as everything else, I know that the concept of "eating local" isn't quite what a person might suspect, if they really apply it.

That's because you have to eat local, based on where you live.

"Modern Street Market", 1920s.

And that's at least partially what almost everyone did, in varying degrees, up until the 1950s.

Put another way, people had fresh vegetables in the summer and fall, as that's when they were available.

Let's consider the humble cabbage.

Cabbage probably isn't your favorite vegetable (I like cabbage, but my wife really dislikes it).  But cabbage doesn't keep all winter.  Planted in the spring, it's ready to eat about 80 days later. So that makes it available sometime in late spring or early summer depending up where you live.  And a lot of places it would be available all summer long into the fall.  But once it started to frost, that would be it.

So here, if you planted it, it would be first available in June, and last in September.  That's it.

You can't keep it after that.

And this would be true of most fresh vegetables.  You'd have them when they first matured.  If they are a crop like cabbage, lettuce or spinach that you can keep growing, you'd have them all summer.  If they were a crop like corn, peas, green beans or peppers, they'd be ready and fresh just once.  In some places, you'd get a second crop in, in others, not.

Well what about after that?

Just truck it in, right?

Well, not so much.

In 1919 the road system, as we've seen, did not allow for transcontinental transportation of fresh produce.  Indeed, an irony of the road system in the country is that it had deteriorated as the railroad system was so good.

Of course that would mean that shipping by rail was an option.  It had certainly been done for meat, and beer, in refrigerated rail cars dating back to the mid 19th Century.  I can find no evidence, however, that it was done with vegetables, and there's probably reasons for that.

If it was done, it was apparently not done much, but I'll take correction on that.

So no vegetables in the winter?

No, that was not the case at all.  It's just that they were not, as the item noted, "fresh".

1918 poster urging people to turn their backyards into gardens.

For one thing, canning was already a thing, both commercial canning, which was common, and home canning, which was also common. So you could buy canned vegetables all year around.  And this time of year thousands of people. . . mostly women, were busy canning their own garden produce.

Poster urging home canning from World War One.

The process for canning had been worked out in the mid 1800s, and it spread fairly quickly, in part due to armies picking it up to feed their troops in the big wars of the 19th Century.  One thing armies did, I'd note, is to can meat as well, in British parlance "potted meat", which few average people do, but the mother of my father in law did in fact do just that, the only individual person I've ever known to do that.

Famine was a real specter in World War One and World War Two. This Second World War urged home canning to combat it.

I'll be frank that home canning scares me and my family never did it, for which I'm thankful.  I'm not afraid of canned anything at the store, and I'm rather fond of some canned items, but home canning always makes me a bit queasy.  Too many stories, perhaps, that I heard as a child.  Anyhow, home canning was still widely practiced when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, again all by women.  I know very few people who do it now.

This World War Two era poster urged growing more at home and canning.

My parents always froze some of their garden crop.  But this wasn't an option for people a century ago.  People didn't have home freezers like so many do now.  For that matter, the overwhelming majority of people had an ice box.  Refrigerators weren't a common thing at the time.

Exceptionally nice ice box.  Most homes didn't have one this large or elaborate.

We've dealt with this before, but ice boxes kept stuff cool, not frozen, and had to be regularly replenished with ice for that purpose.  People were still using ice boxes into the 1950s although their days were rapidly waning then.  At any rate, suffice it to say, if you could only keep things cool at home, you clearly had no means of keeping things frozen. No frozen vegetables at any time of the year in 1919.

Some vegetables keep a long time, however, if kept correctly.  Potatoes, for example, keep a really long time.  I've kept potatoes that were harvested in September or October all the way through until late February or March, when I was nearly ready to plant the next crop.  

That emphasizes why a crop like potatoes was such a big deal at one time.  They keep.  And a potato that's kept isn't much different in February, if kept properly, than it was in October.  "Meat and potatoes" weren't a staple as people lacked imagination or something.  You could have potatoes with your meat pretty much all year long.  And there's a few other crops in this category.

Additionally, some crops dry well. Beans are one, and so do peas.  Cowpeas (Cow Peas) were an 18th Century staple.  You probably know them by the name "Black Eyed Peas". Still a popular food in the United States, particularly  the South, they are a food staple in some parts of the world.

Other legumes and beans keep dried really readily as well.  The old jokes you hear associated with cowboys and soldiers about repeatedly eating beans are based on the fact that they keep and transport readily.  If you are on the trail, flour and beans are easy keepers. So "biscuits and beans" and "bacon and beans" would have been common foods out of necessity.

So during the summer you'd eat fresh heart vegetables, right?

Well, yes.  At least they were available during the summer most places.  If you were far enough south, they'd be available all year long.

But that's only part of the story.

Painted Bricks: Grant Street Grocery, Casper Wyoming

Painted Bricks: Grant Street Grocery, Casper Wyoming:

Grant Street Grocery, Casper Wyoming

Grant Street Grocery in Casper Wyoming is the only surviving small neighborhood grocery store in the town and even advertises the same.



Opened in 1921, the store was converted into a specialty grocery store and deli some years ago, and features meats and cheeses, as well as many other items, that are unlikely to appear on the counters of regular grocery stores.  It's featured here for its simple sign, as well as being a remnant of something that was once very common, a neighborhood store.

I've mentioned this once before, but even during my lifetime a trend away from residential grocery stores, which was already really pronounced when I was a kid, has really developed.

When I was a boy, there was a grocery store that we could walk to and occasionally did for gum and the like on Ash Street.  Downtown there were two more, one on Center and another in North Casper one more on the Sandbar. There was yet another on Elk Street. Finally, there was one downtown on Yellowstone Street.

Today, all of these are gone and only Grant Street remains.  The Sandbar store was the last to close and it morphed into a butcher shop alone, under the same name, that still exists.  Meat was always their strong point.  Grant Street itself closed for a time and was remodeled as a specialty grocer, as noted above.  Prior to that brief closure, it hung on by delivering groceries, being perhaps a bit ahead of its time in some ways in regard to that.

The store on Ash is a t-shirt shop now.  I don't know what the Elk Street store is.  The one downtown, the old Bluebird, is a restaurant.  One of the old groceries is a private residence, which I think is what it was even at the time it was open, its owners operating it the really old fashioned way and living on the premises.  When they retired, they kept on living there, I think.

Okay, maybe I don't care if football players (who are individual people) take the knee, but keep your Corporation's "opinion" to itself.

Note, this is one of the many draft posts that I started a really long time ago, and then never finished.  I have on the order of 300 posts, most barely started, that fit that description.

Writer's block?  No, just the nature of available time.

Anyhow, this item oddly shows right back up in the news again.

Some time back I posted on football players "taking the knee" during the playing of the National Anthem.  As anyone who read it may have noted, I'm sort of generally lukewarm on any opinion there, unlike a lot of people I see (if Facebook is any guide).  I.e, I didn't have a fit about football players taking the knee and, absent an individual athlete's protest reaching the level of that of the 1968 Mexico City, Olympics, I generally don't get too worked up about that.

At the same time, I also tend to disregard individual opinions of people who have risen to fame through their athleticism or because they're entertainers.  Recently, for example, I read where Beyonce was expressing opinions at a concert of some fashion.  It would be nearly impossible for me to care what Beyonce's opinion on anything at all actually is.  Indeed, I thought her daughter's instruction to "calm down" at a recent awards show was pretty much on the mark.

But opinions, particularly social opinions, by corporations really aggravate me.

Recently this has become particularly common, and while I'll give a few entities a pass, it smacks to me of being blisteringly phony.  If corporations, as a rule, suddenly endorse something that's been recently controversial, the issue has probably actually become safe to express.

What this amounts to, of course, is belated virtue signalling, and it's phony.  Corporations main goal, indeed, their stated and legal goal in almost every instance, is to make money for their shareholders.  That's their purpose and focus, and when corporations suddenly take up a cause, what they are often really doing has nothing to do with values and everything with trying to co-opt a movement for profit or not offend a group that's been lately in the news and has obtained financial power accordingly.

Indeed, it's frankly much more admirable when a corporation has a stated position that it adheres to in spite of financial detriment.  The fact that they know an opinion will be unpopular and they stick with it probably says its a real belief.

Which gets back to the perceived views of people in general.  If you look out at a crowed of people supporting anything, or in modern terms posting their support in some fashion on Facebook or Twitter or the like, probably over half, and I'd guess around 2/3s, have no strong convictions on the topic at all. They may believe they do, but in other circumstances they'd be there supporting the other side equally lukewarmly.

Today is American Independence Day.  The day came in the midst of a truly bloody war.  Around 23,000 Americans lost their lives in the war fighting for the Revolution, including those who died of disease, and a nearly equal number were wounded in an era when being wounded was often very disabling.  The British took about 24,000 casualties of all types, meaning they took fewer than the Americans.

But among the "British" were a sizable number of American colonist who fought for the Crown.  Up to 1/3d of American Colonist remained loyal during the war to the United Kingdom.  Only about 1/3d of the American Colonist supported independence or the revolution at all.  The remaining 1/3d took no position.

Even at that, it's not all that difficult, retrospectively, to find example of combatants who fought on both sides of the war.  Some captured American troops were paroled with the promise to fight for the British, and did.  The times being murky and records difficult to keep, some men just fought on both sides depending upon how the wind seemed to be blowing, a risky course of action, but one that some did indeed take.

Howard Pyle's illustration of Tory Refugees.

After the war those die hard Loyalist who couldn't tolerate living in the United States, including many who were so outed as Loyalist they had little choice on that matter, relocated to Quebec where there descendants are still sometimes self identified by initials that note an honorific conveyed by the Crown.  But 1/3d of the American population didn't pull up stakes and relocate, which tells you a lot.  And what that conveys is that a lot of people who thought that the Colonies were making a mistake just shut up.  Indeed, it proved to be the case during the War of 1812 that British soldiers met with sympathy and assistance in Virginia as they marched on Washington D. C., and that was because many Virginians, in that state which had been a colony, of course, retained a higher loyalty and sympathy with the United Kingdom than they did the United States.

But if you read most common commentary today you'll be left with the impression that the Americans, and by that we mean all of the Americans, were eager to shake off the chains of British tyranny.  And I'd wager that as the war began to turn in Congress' favor that view became common at the time and that it really set in by the time the American victory became inevitable.  So most of the men who spoke quietly in favor of King George III at the Rose and Thorne, or whatever, on Saturday nights in 1774 were praising George Washington by 1781.

This commentary, I'd note, isn't directed specifically at Americans in the 1700s by any means, but is more broader.  There are big exceptions to the rule of the get along nature of human opinion to be sure, for example I think the Civil War may be uniquely an exception to it, but people shouldn't make any mistake about this in general.  During the 1930s a lot of trendy social types teetered on the edge of real Communist sympathy while some conservative figures in the country spoke in admiration of Mussolini's and Hitler's governments in their countries.  By 1941, however, everybody in the country was an outright die hard opponent of fascism and militarism.  By 1950 nobody had ever been a Communist sympathizer, not ever.  

In 1968 and later a lot of young Americans protested vigorously about the American role in Vietnam. Quite a few of them vilified American servicemen.  By mid 1980s the same people were backing the troops and by the 1990s quite a few of them were for other foreign wars.

If this suggests that people's stated opinions are fickle and can't be trusted its meant to.  I was in university during the Reagan Administration and a college student would have had to been cavalier or in very trusted company to express any kind thoughts at all about Ronald Reagan.  One of my most conservative in every fashion friends of long standing would openly declare that Reagan was going to reinstate the draft and send us all to fight in Nicaragua, which was just the sort of nonsensical opinion common at the time.  One young computer employee in the geophysics department was unique not only because he was an early computer genius, employed with their super computer that probably is less powerful than a modern cell phone, but because as a recently discharged Navy submariner he was an adamant and open Anti Communist.  Nobody openly expressed views like that.

Which isn't to say that a lot of people didn't think them.

Which is also not to say that a lot of those same people, in the presence of the granola chick at the bar, didn't express the polar opposite.*

Which gets back to the topic of corporations.

If people's confused and muddled approach to what they declare their views is quite often the rule rather than the exception, this isn't the case with corporations.  More often than not, their goal is the bottom dollar.  They're looking out at the confused and muddled crowed and assuming its focused and distinct, and they then leap on board because they want to sell you pants, shoes, or whatever.  and that's cynical even if its self confused cynical.

Which is all the more reason to ignore, or actually buy from the company that is open about just wanting to sell you goods because that's what they do.

*Which recall Zero Mostel's character's line in The Front as to his reason for becoming a Communist.

Stocking challenges and local businesses

A "distributor wrench".  After receiving the "we can have that for you tomorrow" reply, I actually did find one of these locally. But only because an industrial supply store told me where I could get one from another industrial supplier. . . as long as I entered that story with the story that I was buying it for a business.

Ulysses Everett McGill:

Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!

From Oh Brother! Where Art Thou!

Recently I had need of a distributor wrench.

I actually didn't know that's what they were called.  Only that there were curved wrenches.  I wasn't working on a distributor, I was working on starter, and there was a bolt way up underneath the starter that was very hard to remove and which called for the use of a curved wrench.  I lacked one.

And so the Odyssey began.

I can recall these being available locally, more specifically in auto parts stores, which is where I'd expect to find them:

"We can have one for you tomorrow".

That's the answer that I received.

That's the answer that was also provided about the starter a bit earlier.  "We can have that for you tomorrow".  I suppose that's no surprise, the vehicle is far from new.

For windshield wipers, which ended up being the wrong size when they arrived (for that matter, the first stater was defective), it was a a few days that it took, which was perhaps even more understandable.

But then, even stopping in at the bakery for cookies on that day brought the news "we'll have them tomorrow".

And hence the problem of being in modern retail.

For almost any question asked, if the answer is "we can have them. . . ", well I can probably have them delivered to my door in short order.

But maybe not tomorrow.

Any time over that. . . well I can do that as well.

And hence the problem with modern retail.

Being of a distributist mindset, I always try to buy local if I can.  And I try to go to a local retailer for that matter. If a local retailer isn't available, I try to go to a locally owned franchise.

But as the Internet has set in, it's become harder and harder for local retailers, and that reflects itself unfortunately on what's available over the counter, or on the shelves.  I understand that the market is competitive, and an auto parts store doesn't want to necessarily spend its money to stock items for a fifty year old engine (in fairness, one highly local parts store did. . . but for the one with the automatic transmission, not the standard transmission. . . but next time I'll start their first) when they have to compete with parts outfits that can deliver the same items over the net and probably have a different stocking financial dynamic.

And I'm not really blaming them for that. But if I'm left, as I was on at least one occasion, with a several day wait. . . will I buy locally or simply order?

I ordered from the local retailer, but I'm likely the exception.

Indeed, often the answer isn't "I can have that here tomorrow" but "we can order that for you".  If that's the answer, it's not the correct one.  I can order it too.  Most people will. Sometimes I will also.

Indeed, not in auto parts but something else, I've had a clerk him and haw about an item while looking on the net only to say "I can order that for you" and quote me a price four times as high as the one I looked up on the net myself.  I knew that they wouldn't have that in stock, but wanted to give them the chance.  I didn't order it from the store for obvious reasons.

Likewise, just recently I stopped in The Tattered Cover, a big downtown bookstore in Denver that I've always loved and experienced the "we can order. . ." reply to a book that's fairly common, if quite old, which I thought they might stock.  The Tattered Cover remains a great book store and a Denver institution, but it's now a one story book store when it had been a three story one some decades ago.  I'm sure that Amazon cut into its business.  But it just doesn't carry what it once did, which doesn't mean that its not worth going to.  Indeed, I bought several books there.  I'll stop in a local independent retailer and see if they have the same book, but I fear that I'll hear the "we can order" reply, and understandably.

To put this in really extreme terms there's not even a local clothing retailer in my home town that sells clothing suited for my weekday line of work anymore.  Not one.  There used to always be one downtown, but no longer.  There's still one that sells Western clothing, so I can buy Levis from a local retailer, but I can't buy, for example, the Levis' product sold under the name "Dockers" from a locally owned store.

This relates in this odd way.

Dockers are chinos and they're common office wear for folks who work in offices.  As there aren't any local retailers who sell them anymore, for a good twenty plus years I've bought them from one of the giant retailers at the "mall".  One of them still stocks a lot of trousers, but Sears, which used to offer some variety and competition to the other, Penny's, got pretty thin in that department.  Maybe it's improved, I don't know, but I don't go in there anymore.  I gave up.  Anyhow, last time I bought Dockers, yes, I ordered them over the net.  Levi's on line store had a better selection.  I should probably buy some more chinos but now I'm literally at the point where my debate is whether to buy directly from Levi's or one of the other brands that's out there.

None of which is a position that a person with a Distributist and Localist mindset really wants to be in.

I don't know how to solve this problem, so this isn't a tirade against local retailers.  But there has been a change that is a self feeding one into irrelevance that retailers do need to grapple with.  If a person wants to buy locally, there needs to be a reason to do it beyond mere philosophical mindset for most people.  It's highly understandable if specialty items aren't available, but if common ones also aren't, pretty quickly most people will go elsewhere.

Put another way, its understandable while an old starter isn't available, even though at one time in the same places getting it would have been the norm, as it isn't a rare part.  But if curved wrenches that used to sit behind the counter aren't, that's a problem.

It's Record Store Day

I only realized that when I came in and found that the loyal fans of the record store across the street had gathered in anticipation of its opening.

Usually they have some really nifty window art up, so I'll have to go by later and see if that's the case this year.

And in the end, it didn't even come to the floor.

Lex Anteinternet: Opposition to the Big Box Tax, and to Lifting the ...: One of the bills that did well in the state House was the bill to impose a sort of equalization tax on large entities that are multi state ..

The bill, that is, to tax the income of large out of state retailers.

Senator Cale Case, the conservative Fremont County legislator, favored the bill and, as a local businessman, was well situated to note that out of state retailers had taken advantage of Wyoming.  In the end, that didn't matter as the on slot of lobbyist and what not who descended on Cheyenne and the editorial pages of the newspapers, and which spread out to local Facebook campaigns and apparently lots of emails, raised the traditional fear in Wyoming of an income tax.

So the bill died.

In letting it die, the legislature, in a time in which money is short, basically voted to let those large out of state retailers keep money they'd already budgeted into their costs. So Wyoming consumers will continue to pay the same amount for things they buy at Sam's Club or Walmart.  The retailer will continue to keep the part they budgeted for taxes but which Wyoming doesn't impose.  Local businesses that struggle against big box giants will continue to do so, but then they would have anyhow.

The Tribune quoted Case, who delivered an apparently impassioned speech from the floor as stating:

When (small businesses) made profits, those profits stayed in the community,” he said. “Now, they’re scattered to stockholders all over the world. None of these companies’ headquarters are here; none of the value is spread over here.

And 

Most people haven’t thought about it for five minutes when they send me an email, saying they don’t support the tax,"

No matter, the Senator who was responsible for keeping the bill from coming to a vote even apparently disputed that Wyoming really has a budget problem, which is contrary to the general view.

Which gets to why this likely didn't pass, it's a matter of tax philosophies.

Yes, philosophies, a plural.

Now, we can't simply discount the onslaught of opposition, with most of that opposition really centered outside of our borders.  I understand why outfits like WalMart oppose a bill like this. . . they get to keep the money.  In their view, as most people identify their economic interest with societies' best interest, they likely feel that makes their bottom lines better and that's better for everyone.  If it means the demise of small businesses locally, well that's just progress or its not really thought of at all.

Indeed, for those who have grown up in the big box era, and that's now a lot of people, that's likely what the state of the world simply is like. There are a fair number of younger people who oppose big box retailers on a philosophical basis, but most people don't think of things like that.  So its easy for the Wyomingites who oppose income taxation in general to view this bill with suspicion.

And then there are those who regard a bill like this as the foot in the door, or the camel's nose under the tent, or stepping out on a slippery slope, or whatever the proper analogy is.  The thought is sure, I won't be paying an income tax today. . . but maybe in the future an income tax is expanded to apply to my business. . . or maybe I'll cross a state border and some other state will tax me if I get big (which in fact is already the case, they would).

Finally, there are those who really don't believe that the state has an income problem, but a spending one. The head of the committee that that killed the bill seems to be taking that view.  That same view was close to the "starve the government into conservatism" approach that some in the George Bush II administration advocated.  No money, smaller government, was the logic. That only partially worked in the Federal Government, but because the state government works differently, it really could have an impact of that type locally.  When things drop away, they tend to be the things that are more liberal, so to speak, than conservative.

And finally, there are those who oppose taxation that has a philosophical underpinning, which it can be argued that this might.  Closely related to that are those who simply oppose taxation except as necessary, on a philosophical basis.

Conversely, there are those who favor it, and Case was coming close to making a classic Distributist argument in his comments.  Tax the large out of state retailers to try to benefit the small local ones.  There's a real logic to that, but in order to make that work, the tax would have to be at a much, much, higher level.  Of course, Case didn't advocate that actually, but rather simply noted that this was a way for the state to try to recapture money it lost when local retailers went out of business.

Anyway you look at it, this effort appears dead this year and will likely be for the next several. Long term, what happens in the state's economy, something we've been recently exploring, may determine what the future of such efforts will have to be.

The National Retail Fairness Act advances.

The Tribune attempted to report on a bill gaining traction in the Legislature this morning that's quite interesting.

I say attempted, as the Tribune recently has been issuing stories that violate the cardinal rules of how newspaper articles are supposed to be written.  Classically, newspaper articles are supposed to summarize the entire story in the first and last paragraphs, and then discuss the meat of the story in between.  The Trib's been featuring some that are written with a narrative story in the front that's supposed to hook the reader for the rest of the story, but then they never manage to tell the story. It's frustrating.

Anyow, the National Retail Fairness Act is a bill gaining ground in the Legislature which would proposed to tax retail entities that have multi state operations and are taxed in other states. The bill's principal proponent, Jerry Obermueller, noted that the price of items sold in Wyoming don't actually vary from goods that are sold in states that tax such entities elsewhere.

That's a good observation.  No matter what Wyomingites, who generally oppose taxes, might think, large multi state entities that sell things everywhere have factored in the cost of items on a national level, and a tax imposed by Wyoming isn't going to change the price of such items sold here one bit. 

Obermueller is an accountant and has a close connection to education.  He sees the tax as a way to make up for the funding shortfall in education since the coal industry slowed down.  But it really is more than that.  A person has to ask why large retailers like Walmart, that have already certainly figured such taxes into their bottom line, are basically given a break at the expense of the Wyoming taxpayer, and more particularly the Wyoming retailer, by getting a pass in Wyoming when they don't need it and won't even really notice the Wyoming tax.

It's a cleaver approach and it'll be interesting to see where it goes.

2019

STATE OF WYOMING

19LSO-0320

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0220

National Retail Fairness Act.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Obermueller, Barlow, Blackburn, Burkhart, Connolly, Harshman, Lindholm, Nicholas, Schwartz, Sommers, Walters and Zwonitzer and Senator(s) Bebout, Case, Coe, Driskill, Kost, Nethercott, Pappas, Perkins, Rothfuss and Von Flatern

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to taxation; creating the National Retail Fairness Act; imposing an income tax on businesses as specified; providing for administration of the tax; providing penalties; authorizing rulemaking; and providing for effective dates.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 39‑12‑102 through 39‑12‑111 are created to read:

39‑12‑102.  Administration; confidentiality.

(a)  This chapter is known and may be cited as the "National Retail Fairness Act".

(b)  The administration of this chapter is vested in the department of revenue. The department shall administer this chapter in accordance with the multistate tax compact to the extent that the compact does not conflict with this chapter or Wyoming law.

(c)  The department shall, to the extent practical, obtain information from the federal internal revenue service to verify taxable income under this chapter. The department shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to efficiently secure the payment, collection and accounting for taxes imposed by this chapter.

(d)  Notices required to be mailed by the department under this chapter if mailed to the address shown on the records of the department shall be sufficient for the purposes of this chapter.

(e)  No state employee or other person who by his employment has knowledge of the business affairs of any person filing or required to file any tax returns under this chapter shall make known their contents in any manner or permit any person to have access to any returns or information contained therein except as provided by law. The department may also allow the following:

(i)  The delivery to the taxpayer or his legal representatives upon written request of a copy of any return or report in connection with the tax imposed by this chapter;

(ii)  The publication of statistics formatted to prevent the identification of particular returns or reports;

(iii)  The inspection by the attorney general of the state of the report or return of any person who brings an action against the state relating to the report or return, or against whom an action is contemplated or has been instituted;

(iv)  The introduction into evidence of any report or return or information therefrom in any administrative or court proceeding relating to the report or return and to which the person making the report or return is a party;

(v)  The furnishing of any information to the United States government and its territories, the District of Columbia, any state allowing similar privileges to the department or to the multistate tax commission for relay to tax officials of cooperating states. Information furnished shall be only for tax purposes;

(vi)  The inspection of tax returns and records by the state department of audit;

(vii)  The sharing of information with local governmental entities and other state agencies, provided a written request is made to the department and the governmental entity or agency demonstrates sufficient reason to obtain the information for official business purposes. Information furnished shall be used for official business purposes only.

(f)  The district court of the county in which violations of this subsection occur shall have jurisdiction over those violations.  No person shall:

(i)  Fail or refuse to make any return or payment required by this chapter;

(ii)  Make any false return or statement;

(iii)  Evade the payment of any tax due;

(iv)  Aid or abet another in any attempt to evade payment of the tax due;

(v)  Knowingly attest by signature to a false or fraudulent return.

39‑12‑103.  Imposition.

(a)  Taxable event. There is levied an income tax upon the taxable income of each taxpayer in this state as defined in W.S. 39‑12‑101(b)(iii).

(b)  Apportionment of taxable income shall be as follows:

(i)  If a taxpayer has no income from activity that is taxable outside of Wyoming, the taxpayer's entire taxable income shall be allocated to Wyoming;

(ii)  A taxpayer having income from activity that is taxable both within and without Wyoming shall apportion and allocate the taxable income as provided in this section;

(iii)  Income is taxable in another state if:

(A)  In that other state, the income is subject to a net income tax, a franchise tax measured by net income, a franchise tax for the privilege of doing business, a corporate stock tax or any similar tax; or

(B)  That other state has jurisdiction to subject the income to a net income tax regardless of whether, in fact, the state subjects the taxpayer to such tax.

(iv)  Taxable business income shall be apportioned to Wyoming by multiplying the income by a fraction, the numerator of which is the property factor as provided under subsection (c) of this section plus the payroll factor under subsection (d) of this section plus the sales factor under subsection (e) of this section, and the denominator of which is three (3).

(c)  The property factor shall be calculated as follows:

(i)  The property factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the average value of the taxpayer's real and tangible personal property owned or rented and used in this state during the tax period and the denominator of which is the average value of all the taxpayer's real and tangible personal property owned or rented and used during the tax period;

(ii)  Property owned by the taxpayer shall be valued at its original cost. Property rented by the taxpayer is valued at eight (8) times the net annual rental rate. As used in this paragraph, "net annual rental rate" means the annual rental rate paid by the taxpayer less any annual rental rate received by the taxpayer from subrentals;

(iii)  The average value of property shall be determined by averaging the values at the beginning and ending of the tax period but the tax administrator may require the averaging of monthly values during the tax period if reasonably required to reflect properly the average value of the taxpayer's property.

(d)  The payroll factor shall be calculated as follows:

(i)  The payroll factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the total amount paid in this state during the tax period by the taxpayer for compensation and the denominator of which is the total compensation paid everywhere during the tax period;

(ii)  Compensation is paid in this state if:

(A)  The individual's service is performed entirely within the state;

(B)  The individual's service is performed both inside and outside the state, but the service performed outside the state is incidental to the individual's service within this state; or

(C)  Some of the individual's service is performed in the state and the base of operations:

(I)  For the service or, if there is no base of operations, the place from which the service is directed or controlled is in the state; or

(II)  Or the place from which the service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, but the individual's residence is in this state.

(e)  The sales factor shall be calculated as follows:

(i)  The sales factor is a fraction, the numerator of which is the total sales of the taxpayer in this state during the tax period, and the denominator of which is the total sales of the taxpayer everywhere during the tax period;

(ii)  Sales of tangible personal property are in this state if the property is:

(A)  Delivered or shipped to a purchaser within this state regardless of the f.o.b. shipping point or other conditions of the sale; or

(B)  Shipped from an office, store, warehouse, factory or other place of storage in this state and the taxpayer is not taxable in the state of the purchaser.

(iii)  Sales, other than sales of tangible personal property, are in this state if the income producing activity is performed:

(A)  In this state; or

(B)  Both in and outside this state and a greater proportion of the income producing activity is performed in this state than in any other state, based on costs of performance.

(f)  The department may require taxpayers to provide additional information and documentation related to apportionment, allocation of income and the property factor, payroll factor and sales factor to support an income tax return under this chapter.

39‑12‑104.  Taxation rate.

There is levied and shall be paid by the taxpayer a tax on that portion of adjusted federal taxable income of the taxpayer that is apportioned to Wyoming at a rate of seven percent (7%).

39‑12‑105.  Exemptions.

There are no specific applicable provisions for exemptions for this chapter.

39‑12‑106.  Licenses and permits.

There are no specific applicable provisions for licenses and permits for this chapter.

39‑12‑107.  Compliance; collection procedures.

(a)  Returns and reports. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, each taxpayer shall report their total taxable income and the portion of the income that is apportioned to Wyoming as provided in W.S. 39‑12‑103 to the department not more than thirty (30) days after the date the taxpayer is required to file a federal income tax return under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code including any extensions authorized for filing of the federal income tax return.

(b)  Payment. Any taxpayer owing a tax under this chapter shall pay the tax once each year at the same time the report under subsection (a) is provided. The tax shall be collected by the department.

(c)  Timelines. There are no specific applicable provisions for timelines for this chapter.

39‑12‑108.  Enforcement.

(a)  Audits. To assess credits and deficiencies against taxpayers, the department is authorized to rely on final audit findings made by the department of audit, taxpayer information or information reported by the taxpayer to the internal revenue service or to the department of revenue subject to the following conditions:

(i)  Audits shall commence when the taxpayer receives written notice of the engagement of the audit. The issuance of the written notice of the audit shall toll the statute of limitations provided in W.S. 39‑12‑110 for the audit period specified in this subsection;

(ii)  After receiving notice of an audit under this subsection, the taxpayer shall preserve all records and books necessary to determine the amount of tax due for the time period that is being audited;

(iii)  Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, audits shall encompass a time period not to exceed three (3) years immediately preceding the reporting period when the audit is engaged. The three (3) year limit shall not apply to an audit if there is evidence of gross negligence or intent to evade by the taxpayer in reporting or remitting taxes for the reporting period being audited;

(iv)  If a taxpayer is not willing or able to produce adequate records to demonstrate taxes due, the department or the department of audit may project taxes based on the best information available;

(v)  The department of audit may contract with or employ auditors or other technical assistance necessary to determine whether the taxes imposed by this chapter have been properly reported and paid;

(vi)  Audits under this subsection are subject to the authority and procedures provided in W.S. 9‑2‑2003.

(b)  Interest. The following shall apply:

(i)  Interest at an annual rate equal to the average prime interest as determined by the state treasurer during the preceding fiscal year, plus four percent (4%), shall be added to all delinquent taxes under this chapter. To determine the average prime interest rate, the state treasurer shall average the prime interest for at least seventy‑five percent (75%) of the thirty (30) largest banks in the United States.  The interest rate on delinquent taxes shall be adjusted on January 1 of each year following the year in which the taxes first became delinquent. In no instance shall the delinquent interest rate be less than twelve percent (12%) nor greater than eighteen percent (18%);

(ii)  The department may credit or waive interest imposed by this subsection as part of a settlement or for any other good cause.

(c)  Penalties. The following shall apply:

(i)  If any part of a deficiency is due to negligence or intentional disregard of rules and regulations but without intent to defraud there shall be added a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount of the deficiency plus interest as provided by paragraph (b)(i) of this section. The taxes, penalty and interest shall be paid by the taxpayer within ten (10) days after notice and demand is made by the department;

(ii)  If any part of the deficiency is due to fraud with intent to evade there shall be added a penalty of twenty‑five percent (25%) of the amount of the deficiency plus interest as provided by paragraph (b)(i) of this section. The taxes, penalty and interest shall be paid by the taxpayer within ten (10) days after notice and demand is made by the department;

(iii)  Any person who files a false or fraudulent return is subject to the provisions of W.S. 6‑5‑303;

(iv)  Any person who violates any provision of this chapter for which there are no specific penalties is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). Each violation is a separate offense;

(v)  If a taxpayer fails to file a return as required by this chapter, the department shall give written notice by mail to the taxpayer to file a return on or before the last day of the month following the notice of delinquency. If a taxpayer then fails to file a return the department shall make a return from the best information available which will be prima facie correct and the tax due therein is a deficiency and subject to penalties and interest as provided by this chapter;

(vi)  The department may credit or waive penalties imposed by this subsection as part of a settlement or for any other good cause.

(d)  Liens. The following shall apply:

(i)  Any tax due under this chapter constitutes a debt to the state from the taxpayer, and is a lien from the date the tax is due on all the real and personal property of the taxpayer. Notice of the lien shall be filed with the county clerk of the county in which the taxpayer resides or conducts business. The lien does not have preference over preexisting secured indebtedness but shall have priority from and after the date of filing or recording. The department shall cancel lien statements within sixty (60) days after taxes due are paid or collected. No other action by the department is required to perfect a lien under this paragraph regardless of the type of property involved.

(e)  Tax sales. The following shall apply:

(i)  The tax due together with interest, penalties and costs may be collected by appropriate judicial proceedings or the department, with board approval, or its representative, may seize and sell at public auction so much of the taxpayer's property as will pay all the tax then due plus interest, penalties and costs. Notice of the auction must be published for four (4) weeks in a newspaper published in the resident county of the taxpayer or the county in which the majority of the property is located.

39‑12‑109.  Taxpayer remedies.

(a)  Interpretation requests. A taxpayer may request and the department shall provide written interpretations of these statutes and rules adopted by the department. When requesting an interpretation, a taxpayer shall set forth the facts and circumstances pertinent to the issue. If the department deems the facts and circumstances provided to be insufficient, it may request additional information. A taxpayer may act in reliance upon a written interpretation through the end of the calendar year in which the interpretation was issued, or until revoked by the department, whichever occurs last if the pertinent facts and circumstances were substantially correct and fully disclosed.

(b)  Appeals. Except as provided by this subsection, no person aggrieved by the payment of the taxes, penalty and interest imposed by this chapter may appeal a decision of the state board of equalization until all taxes, penalty and interest have been paid. For good cause shown, the court to which the decision of the board is appealed may stay enforcement of the tax during the pendency of the appeal. The court's stay of enforcement shall not affect the accruing of interest upon any assessment and levy.

(c)  Refunds. The following shall apply:

(i)  Any tax, penalty or interest which has been erroneously paid, computed or remitted to the department by a taxpayer shall either be credited against any subsequent tax liability of the taxpayer or refunded. No credit or refund shall be allowed after three (3) years from the date of overpayment. The receipt of a claim for a refund by the department shall toll the statute of limitations under W.S. 39‑12‑110. All refund requests received by the department shall be approved or denied within ninety (90) days of receipt. Any refund or credit erroneously made or allowed may be recovered in an action brought by the attorney general in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(d)  Credits. The following shall apply:

(i)  Each taxpayer is entitled to a credit against tax liability under this chapter for all excise, sales, use, severance and ad valorem taxes paid in the taxable year by the same taxpayer to any taxing authority in Wyoming. No credit shall be allowed for any tax collected or remitted by the taxpayer on behalf of another person.  The taxpayer shall report the credit to the department on the return filed under W.S. 39‑12‑107. The department may require supporting documentation on the credit claimed under this paragraph. In no case shall any refund be due or payable if the amount of the credit claimed by any taxpayer under this paragraph exceeds the amount of tax due under this chapter. False claims are punishable as provided by W.S. 6‑5‑303;

(ii)  The taxpayer is entitled to receive an offsetting credit for any overpaid tax identified by an audit that is within the scope of the audit period, without regard to the limitation period for requesting refunds.

(e)  Redemption. There are no specific applicable provisions for redemption for this chapter.

(f)  Escrow. There are no specific applicable provisions for escrow for this chapter.

39‑12‑110.  Statute of limitations.

(a)  Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no credit or refund shall be allowed after three (3) years from the date of overpayment. The receipt of a claim for a refund by the department shall toll the statute of limitations.

(b)  The department may bring an action to recover any delinquent taxes, penalty or interest in any appropriate court within three (3) years following the delinquency. In the case of an assessment created by an audit, the delinquency period is deemed to start thirty (30) days after the date the assessment letter is sent. Any tax penalty and interest related to the audit assessment shall be calculated from the filing period during which the deficiency occurred. In any such action a certificate by the department is prima facie evidence of the amount due.

39‑12‑111.  Distribution.

Revenues collected under W.S. 39‑12‑104 during each fiscal year shall be recognized as revenue during that fiscal year for accounting purposes. For all revenue collected by the department under W.S. 39‑12‑104 the department shall credit one hundred percent (100%) to the school foundation program account.

Section 2.  W.S. 39‑12‑101 is amended to read:

39‑12‑101.  Preemption by state; definitions.

(a)  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 except as provided in this chapter.

(b)  As used in this chapter:

(i)  "Tax year" means the taxable year used by the taxpayer for purposes of the federal income tax;

(ii)  "Taxable income" means the net taxable income reported by the taxpayer to the Internal Revenue Service on federal form 1120, adjusted to remove any deductions taken for sales, use and ad valorem taxes paid in the taxable year by the same taxpayer to any taxing authority in Wyoming;

(iii)  "Taxpayer" means any person who:

(A)  Has taxable income earned in Wyoming;

(B)  Is a vendor with a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) classification in the sector of retail trade, sector 44 or 45 or in the sector of accommodation and food services, sector 72.  This subparagraph includes a person who is a franchisor that collects franchise fees in Wyoming from a vendor in NAICS sector 44, 45 or 72; and

(C)  Files or is required to file federal form 1120 to the internal revenue service if the corporation or the affiliated group as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 1504 has more than one hundred (100) shareholders unless the person makes an election as an unincorporated entity.

Section 3.  The department of revenue shall adopt rules under W.S. 39‑11‑102 as necessary to begin collection of the community impact tax created by this act for tax years beginning in tax year 2020.

Section 4.

(a)  Section 3 of this act is effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(b)  Except as otherwise provided in subsection (a) of this section, this act is effective January 1, 2020.

(END)