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Illinois ranked 48th in the report with a per-taxpayer debt
burden of more than $41,000. Chicago also fared poorly, ranking
near the bottom of U.S. cities for taxpayer burden. The taxpayer
burden is calculated by the total debt of a state or local
government by the number of taxpayers within that state of
municipality.
Truth in Accounting CEO Sheila Weinberg said the pandemic showed
how Illinois state government uses smoke and mirrors when
reporting budget numbers.
“Their credit was so bad that they couldn’t go to the bond
market to borrow money when they needed it so the federal
reserve actually opened up a special borrowing facility for them
and they borrowed $3.2 billion, and the governor still claimed
that he balanced the budget,” Weinberg said.
Illinois has been adding to its Rainy Day Fund, reaching $2
billion last year, but Weinberg said it can be misleading.
“I think a lot of times they promote those rainy day funds that
have all this extra cash,” said Weinberg. “For example,
California has a big rainy day fund, but they have $250 billion
of debt.”
The report noted that 28 states, including Illinois, didn’t have
enough money to pay their bills in 2022 with a combined $938
billion of debt.
In the newly released “Cities” report, 53 cities didn’t have
enough money to pay their bills.
Pension debt totaled $175.9 billion for cities nationwide, and
other post-employment benefits, mainly retiree health care,
totaled $135.2 billion.
Weinberg stated, "Our findings show that these cities are facing
significant financial challenges, and it is crucial for
taxpayers to be aware of the true state of their city's
finances."
The top three cities with a taxpayer surplus were Washington
D.C., Irvine, California and Plano, Texas. The bottom three
cities for taxpayer burden were New York City, Chicago and
Honolulu.
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