Wyoming's investment in tax assessment in collection is modest: The combined budgets for the Ad Valorem Tax Division, Mineral Tax Division and Mineral Audit Division total approximately $3 million, compared to approximately $4 billion in assessed valuation for state-assessed properties (minerals, railroads, pipelines, etc.).

Research conducted by the Equality State Policy Center indicates the state's tax system allows considerable leakage. Wyoming's tax system is essentially an honor system based on self-reporting, with enforcement mainly through an audit process with virtually no public accountability.

The number of cases docketed before the state Board of Equalization, a three-member body which hears appeals in tax matters, has soared since the mid-1990s, with over 400 cases now backlogged.

With continued work in this area, the Equality State Policy Center plans to propose a package of tax system reforms to the 1999 Legislature.

One needed reform, already put forward in the 1998 session, is greater cooperation between state and county tax authorities with regard to state-assessed properties. Two bills (described below) were offered on this subject, and both were defeated after heavy industry lobbying against them.