Wisconsin’s Mounting Debt

All bills come due eventually.

This lesson shouldn’t be lost on all of us as we monitor the amount of debt accumulated by various levels of government. For those paying attention, concern is largely focused on the federal government, which has a debt of about $9.5 trillion. That amounts to more than $31,500 for every American. Not every worker ... every American, including those too young and too old to work. Other future unfunded liabilities drive the debt much higher, but Congress refuses to address the problem.

Unfortunately, the trend toward higher debt has trickled down to the state level. A recent report from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance shows our state is not nearly as frugal with borrowing as it once was. Using U.S. Census Bureau figures, WISTAX analysts found Wisconsin’s state and local governments devoted a larger share of personal income to debt service in 2006 than all but nine other states. As recently as 2000 we were 21st highest, and in 1960 we ranked 45th.

Breaking down the numbers finds the state is the main culprit for this increase. Our state government ranked 13th nationally in the amount of personal income spent on debt service, while local governments ranked 21st and almost 14 percent below the national average, WISTAX reported. “State government here accounted for 57 percent of debt service, even though it did only 42 percent of all spending,” WISTAX President Todd Berry said.

This is a bipartisan failure. 

1. It’s not a “failure” for the politicians who have successfully spent, spent, spent (and bought, bought, bought) their way into re-election.

   They have a State-paid retirement waiting, Owen.

   Posted by dad29 on July 15, 2008 at 0650 hrs