A new accounting report is out shedding light on how state government finances are shaping up. Debt of course is a big problem. ALL states have debt, just some are way worse than others.
Advocates for Self Government had this to say:
The report highlights that states have introduced more transparency largely due to the “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles set by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, which now require governments to disclose pension and other post-employment (OPEB) benefits on their balance sheets.” If the benefits in question do not receive full funding, they are categorized as liabilities, or debt, “because they represent money owed to government employees in their retirement.”
Of note, this year’s report discovered that 40 states don’t have enough money to pay all of their bills. Worse, states have accumulated a whopping total of $1.5 trillion in unfunded state debt. The study’s Taxpayer Burden or Surplus ranks states based on how much debt each taxpayer would have to shoulder on a per capita basis.
Truth in Accounting has Indiana ranked #15 for debt obligations and the full report can on the state can be found here. Indiana has an overall “C” grade ranking.
