The Tax Foundation’s rankings are based on an index factoring in five areas – corporate taxes, individual income taxes, sales taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, and taxes on property, including residential and commercial property.

Wyoming is also committed to growth, as was recently noticed by the U.S. Chamber Foundation when it ranked the state #6 in economic performance and #3 for business climate. USChamberFoundation.com paid tribute to Wyoming’s efforts in the technology sector, but also the state’s focus on historic downtowns. “Wyoming’s Main Street program offers communities throughout the state access to technical assistance for downtown revitalization efforts,” says the site. “Backed by the Wyoming Business Council and the state’s Rural Development Council, the Main Street Program is focused on helping create downtown cores capable of spurring business development and job creation at the local level.”

Douglas is an affiliate member of the Wyoming Main Street Program. Main Street Chair Deb Gorsuch says, “This has allowed us to bring an emphasis to improving the look and feel of our downtown and giving people a reason to come there by offering more retail, restaurants and bars, and a variety of events throughout the year.” Working with the Main Street program, the City of Douglas has written a downtown master plan identifying a significant number of improvements to be made and a timeline to accomplish these projects. Via key partnerships Main Street Douglas is involved with a number of projects to enhance the historic downtown while adding new updated features.