diff --git a/src/goto-symex/symex_assign.cpp b/src/goto-symex/symex_assign.cpp
index 846bb2c6b0c..c8da70d93ea 100644
--- a/src/goto-symex/symex_assign.cpp
+++ b/src/goto-symex/symex_assign.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ void goto_symext::symex_assign(
   exprt lhs=code.lhs();
   exprt rhs=code.rhs();
 
+  DATA_INVARIANT(lhs.type() == rhs.type(), "assignments must be type consistent");
+
   clean_expr(lhs, state, true);
   clean_expr(rhs, state, false);
 
diff --git a/src/util/expr_initializer.cpp b/src/util/expr_initializer.cpp
index 6402a7edf5a..3112883b33e 100644
--- a/src/util/expr_initializer.cpp
+++ b/src/util/expr_initializer.cpp
@@ -270,10 +270,13 @@ exprt expr_initializert<nondet>::expr_initializer_rec(
   }
   else if(type_id==ID_c_enum_tag)
   {
-    return
-      expr_initializer_rec(
-        ns.follow_tag(to_c_enum_tag_type(type)),
-        source_location);
+    exprt result = expr_initializer_rec(
+      ns.follow_tag(to_c_enum_tag_type(type)), source_location);
+
+    // use the tag type
+    result.type() = type;
+
+    return result;
   }
   else if(type_id==ID_struct_tag)
   {