A study released recently by the Pew Charitable Trusts finds that eleven states were in deficit – overall spending exceeding overall revenues – for the fiscal years 2002 through 2016.  

The study looked at all revenues and spending, not just that covered by a state’s regular budget, which often excludes pensions and other special funds.  

New Jersey finds itself at the bottom of this list as well as similar rankings in this category:  the state managed to cover only a little more than 92 percent of its costs, and was in deficit in every year of the 15 in the study period.  So was Illinois, the second-worst, which covered a little over 94 percent of spending.  

The other deficit states, in alphabetical order, were California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, and New York. 

As a whole, the states averaged 102.2 percent, with some of the jurisdictions whose economies depend heavily on oil and gas coming out the best in those years:  Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming.  

Details on the Pew study may be seen here: http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/analysis/2017/10/26/revenue-trails-expenses-over-long-term-in-11-states?hd&utm_campaign=2017-11-01+PNN&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Pew.

Source: The State Laws Newsletter