A Top Profligate State

Illinois among the top profligate states. Stephen Malanga, WSJ "Our Spendthrift States Don't Need a Bailout":

Illinois has attempted to deal with a nearly $2 billion budget deficit in part by slowing down payment of its bills (its backlog of unpaid invoices was recently $1.8 billion) and hoping tax collections would revive. Instead, they are declining and the state's budget gap is widening. [snip]

This is not the first time states have been caught in this trap. One reason is because many fail to address their deep, structural budget problems during the good times, preferring to use booming tax revenues to start or expand politically popular (and often costly) programs. Another, deadlier issue is their failure to deal with huge and growing employee pension and benefits liabilities.

For years, state and local politicians have bought support from public sector unions by promising big benefits.Over time these promises exert severe pressure on their budgets. A study three years ago by the Employee Benefit Research Institute estimated that the average public sector worker earns 46% more in total compensation than his counterpart in the private sector, largely because government employers spend 60% more per worker on benefits than counterparts in the private sector.[snip]

Illinois, which has the largest percentage of unfunded pension liabilities among the states, actually cut its contributions to pension funds by $2.3 billion in the flush years of 2006 and 2007 as stock market returns were rising.

Expect an exodus from the state from those who can leave if you Dem pols don't cut spending rather than raise taxes.