Truth in Accounting report shows real burden of government pensions and retirement healthcare obligations

Technically-speaking, New Mexico politicians have to balance the state’s budget every year. In reality, government employee pensions and health care benefits create burdens on taxpayers that are not accounted for in the annual budget process. But those bills WILL come due.

According to the Institute for Truth in Accounting’s new report on the True Financial Condition of the States, New Mexicans will need to cough up $9,000 per taxpayer in order to pay the bills for these future obligations.

The worst state is Connecticut which would require taxpayer payments in excess of $41,000 while a few western states like Utah and Wyoming are actually in the black according to the report. Said Sheila Weinberg, Founder and CEO of the Institute, “If governors and legislatures had truly balanced each state’s budget, no taxpayer’s financial burden would exist.” She continued, “A state budget is not balanced if past costs, including those for employees’ retirement benefits, are pushed into the future.”