These 39 States Don’t Have Enough Money To Pay Their Bills

The 11th annual Financial State of the States report, a nationwide analysis of the most recent state government financial information – completed prior to the coronavirus pandemic – has just been released and it found that 39 states did not have enough money to pay all of their bills. (Since then, COVID-19 and the accompanying government-imposed economic shutdowns, have further exacerbated financial problems at the state level.)

…Ironically, 49 states require balanced budgets by law and, as the report explains, “This means that to balance the budget … elected officials have not included the true costs of the government in their budget calculations and have pushed costs onto future taxpayers.” The vast majority of state debt comes from unfunded retirement benefit obligations…

The Financial State of the States report ranks [see below] the states by their fiscal health based on taxpayer burden. This is the amount of money each taxpayer in the state would have to pay if the state were to pay off all of its accumulated debt. (Conversely, how much each taxpayer would receive if the budget surplus was divvied up among taxpayers.)

The five biggest sinkhole states are:

• 50. New Jersey (-$57,900)
• 49. Illinois ($52,000)
• 48. Connecticut ($50,700)
• 47. Hawaii ($31,700)
• 46. Massachusetts ($30,100)

The five healthiest “sunshine states” are:

• 1. Alaska ($77,400)
• 2. North Dakota ($37,700)
• 3. Wyoming ($19,600)
• 4. Utah ($5,500)
• 5. Tennessee ($3,400)

The only other states able to pay all of their bills are South Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho, Oregon, Iowa, and Minnesota.

Here are all 50 states ranked from financially healthiest to sickest.

1. Alaska
2. North Dakota
3. Wyoming
4. Utah
5. Tennessee
6. South Dakota
7. Nebraska
8. Idaho
9. Oregon
10. Iowa
11. Minnesota
12. Oklahoma
13. Virginia
14. Indiana
15. North Carolina
16. Florida
17. Arkansas
18. Arizona
19. Montana
20. Colorado
21. Nevada
22. Georgia
23. Wisconsin
24. New Hampshire
25. Missouri
26. Ohio
27. Washington
28. Kansas
29. West Virginia
30. Maine
31. New Mexico
32. Alabama
33. Mississippi
34. Texas
35. South Carolina
36. Rhode Island
37. Maryland
38. Pennsylvania
39. Michigan
40. Louisiana
41. New York
42. Vermont
43. California
44. Kentucky
45. Delaware
46. Massachusetts
47. Hawaii
48. Connecticut
49. Illinois
50. New Jersey

Editor’s Note:  The original article by Peter Schiff has been edited ([ ]) and abridged (…) above for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read.  The author’s views and conclusions are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original article.  Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor. Also note that this complete paragraph must be included in any re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.

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