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New Jersey Ranked Worst State in the Nation for Fiscal Health

Phill Murphy -Sara Medina del Castillo

New Jersey has $234.7 billion in bills and only $25.9 billion in available assets to pay those bills

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, A new report on the financial condition of the 50 states ranks New Jersey no. 50 in the nation for its fiscal health. The report is based on the states’ 2018 comprehensive annual financial reports, the most recent data available.

The analysis by Truth in Accounting, a non-profit government finance watchdog group, found New Jersey needs $208.8 billion to get out of the red, or $65,100 from each of its taxpayers.

New Jersey and other states have become more transparent over the last few years, thanks to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles set by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, which now require governments to disclose pension and other post-employment (OPEB) benefits on their balance sheets. If these benefits have not been fully funded, they are considered liabilities, or debt, because they represent money owed to government employees in their retirement.

According to the watchdog’s tenth annual Financial State of the States report, New Jersey has $234.7 billion in bills and only $25.9 billion in available assets to pay those bills after capital and restricted assets are excluded. This results in a massive $208.8 billion shortfall, or a $65,100 Taxpayer Burden™, which is each taxpayer’s share of the state debt after the state’s available assets have been tapped. TIA’s Taxpayer Burden indicator incorporates both assets and liabilities, including unfunded retirement obligations.

The bottom line is that New Jersey does not have enough money to pay its bills, which is why it received an “F” grade for its fiscal health.

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You can read the full report here and New Jersey’s individual report here.

https://www.truthinaccounting.org/library/doclib/FSOS-booklet-2019.pdf

One thought on “New Jersey Ranked Worst State in the Nation for Fiscal Health

  1. The state is run by democrats from shit hole cities who couldn’t balance their own checkbook.. What do you expect

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