Who Is Second Worst?

Craig Eyermann

By any fiscal measure, the government of Puerto Rico is the worst off of all state or territorial governments within the United States.   But which U.S. state or territory is the second worst off? In discussing the state of the city of Chicago, City Journal‘s Aaron Renn makes a strong argument that it is Illinois:........Although the article was published in June 2012, virtually every aspect of Renn’s argument holds true today. Since it was written, to deal with its spending problems, the city of Chicago has imposed a massive property tax increase on its residents in a bid to come up with enough money to stave off its future bankruptcy for a bit longer........In the meantime, the state of Illinois now has over $7 billion of unpaid bills as it continues to run up its spending without even having a budget as the state’s legislators, who are largely representing the interests of the state’s public employees unions, refuse to compromise on a budget that would constrain the growth of their lavish benefits in any way, demanding instead that the state follow Chicago’s example and hike its taxes to sustain their spending for a little longer.

Like Chicago, the amount by which taxes might be increased in Illinois will never be enough to become solvent given the state legislature’s spending priorities.

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