For the fifth time in as many years, Wyoming ranks first in the nation in the Tax Foundation’s annual State Business Tax Climate Index (one of the 14 factors in the Business Climate Rankings found elsewhere in this issue). The Index is based on variables associated with five tax categories — individual income, sales, corporate income, property and unemployment insurance. The fact that Wyoming has no corporate or individual income tax assured it a first-place finish in those categories.
“These studies confirm what we’ve long known in Wyoming; this is a pro-business state with a low cost of doing business, direct access to the governor and legislators, and a low regulatory burden,” said Shawn Reese, CEO of the Wyoming Business Council, in a statement. Wyoming also has no inventory, occupation, franchise or value-added taxes.
The Cowboy State takes supporting businesses seriously. In February 2023, indoor agriculture company Plenty Unlimited, a homegrown company, was awarded a $20 million grant from the state to help expand its vertical farming research center in Laramie.
“The next generation of Plenty’s R&D platform that we’re deploying in Wyoming enables us to develop new crops at a much faster rate and expand the portfolio of plants we can grow in Plenty’s patented vertical growing system,” said Sasha Preuss, vice president of plant science at Plenty, in September. “We just announced our expansion of Plenty farms to the Middle East and the research capabilities we have here in Wyoming make it possible for us to develop additional crops that can be grown in those farms — increasing regional production and food security despite the very different climates. That’s a big advantage to having both research and commercial farm environments that are totally controlled.” The expanded research center is set to open in summer 2026.
Also in Laramie, Eagle Materials, which makes construction products and building materials, is investing $430 million to expand its cement plant as well as a cement distribution facility in Colorado. The investment aims to increase manufacturing capacity by 50%. The expansion will become operational in the second half of 2026.
