Wyoming residents enjoy something unusual in America: no state income tax, and relatively low taxes overall. The reason lies underground. For decades, taxes and royalties on coal, oil, and gas have footed a large share of the state's bills, sparing residents the burden.

The arrangement has been a remarkable bargain for the people of Wyoming. Severance taxes on minerals, along with royalties from extraction on state and federal land, have poured billions into public coffers, funding schools, roads, and services at a level that a small population could never sustain through its own taxes alone.

That dependence, however, is a double-edged sword. When energy prices fall or production declines, state revenue plummets, forcing painful budget cuts. The decline of coal, in particular, has punched a growing hole in Wyoming's finances, and no other industry has emerged to fill it. The very resource wealth that spared residents from taxes has left the state acutely vulnerable to the fortunes of a few volatile industries.

Wyoming has tried to plan ahead, salting away mineral revenue in permanent funds whose earnings can cushion the lean years. But the fundamental challenge remains unsolved. As the energy industry that built the state's finances contracts, Wyoming must confront an uncomfortable question: how to pay its bills in a future where the minerals no longer cover them.