Our fifteenth annual Financial State of the States (FSOS) report provides a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal health of all 50 states.
Truth in Accounting has once again created a transparency score for the financial reporting by state governments to encourage the publication of transparent and accurate government financial information.
Now Available
Our annual report on state fiscal health. Debt among the states improved slightly. Going from $1.2 trillion down to $938.6 billion.
What happened?
How did your state do? Read the full report below.
https://www.truthinaccounting.org/news/detail/financial-state-of-the-states-2023
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This year's report found that 31 states did not have enough money to pay all of their bills.
By Ricardo Lopez, includes “The November Minnesota state budget and economic forecast painted a rosy picture of the state’s finances: lawmakers have an expected $7.7 billion budget surplus, the largest surplus the state has ever forecasted. ”
To encourage the publication of transparent and accurate government financial information, Truth in Accounting has created a transparency score for financial reporting by the states.
By Scott McClallen (The Center Square), includes “A financial watchdog ranked Minnesota 11th in the nation and stamped a ‘B’ grade on the state for its current fiscal health. The Financial State of the States report from the nonprofit government watchdog Truth in Accounting (TIA) found that Minnesota is only one of 11 states with enough money to pay its bills, leaving every Minnesotan with a taxpayer surplus of $200.”
PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Truth in Accounting's twelfth annual Financial State of the States report, a nationwide analysis of the most recent state government financial information.
By Jessie van Berkel and Briana Bierschback, includes “It was always going to be a heavy lift: Set the next state budget with a politically divided government and vastly opposing views on taxes and government spending.”
Op-ed by state senator Jen McEwen, includes “The latest budget forecast from the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget projects a positive budget balance of $1.6 billion in the upcoming biennium, thanks largely to an improved U.S. economic outlook strengthened by federal aid. … .”
There have been recent rumblings (see pionline.com, March 2020) that states and municipalities should resolve their pension funding woes by issuing Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs). Our work leads us to the opposite conclusion — POBs are a bad idea, regardless of the level of interest rates. Although POBs resolve short-term funding issues, they do not resolve the fundamental longer-term governance issues that plague US Public Defined Benefit Plans.
The 2020 Financial State of the States report surveys the fiscal health of the 50 states prior to the coronavirus pandemic. This data is released today by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting.
Officials from several prominent Minnesota-based nonprofit organizations on Monday, Aug. 24, called on U.S. lawmakers to approve additional coronavirus relief funds for states whose finances have been battered by the pandemic.
How large could the shortfall in state government general revenues be, amidst the coronavirus and related crises?
State and local officials are well aware that they face the most dire fiscal circumstances in decades. They still don't know just how bad it will be.
President Donald Trump is poised to clear payment-reform legislation backed by Minnesota U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat in a suburban swing district that has been targeted by his administration over the past year.
“Last month, Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren released a student-debt plan that would forgive up to $50,000 in student loans for people with household incomes less than $100,000, forgive less in loans for those who make more and make public higher education free. Not everyone agrees it’s a good idea. …”
Included in the Omnibus Transportation Finance Bill (HF1555) approved Monday night by the Minnesota House is more than $1 billion in gas tax increases, sales taxes and licensing fees to pay for infrastructure improvements.