Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Is Texas really a pay as you go state?

The Texas Constitution establishes the no debt shall be incurred, but allows loopholes that - no surprise - have allowed debt to be both acquired and balloon.

Ballotpedia has this to say about it:

According to a January 2014 report by the nonprofit organization State Budget Solutions, Texas had a state debt of approximately $340.9 billion. Its state debt per capita was $13,083. In this report for fiscal year 2012, state debt was calculated based on four components: "market-valued unfunded public pension liabilities, outstanding government debt, unfunded other post employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities, and outstanding unemployment trust fund loans." The report revealed that altogether state governments faced a combined $5.1 trillion in debt, which amounted to $16,178 per capita in the nation.

The figure above - $340.9 billion - includes local debt as well as the estimated amount the state and local governments will be obligated to pay for pensions and other related items. For more click here:
Public Pensions in Texas.

For more along these lines:
- Tell the Truth Texas.
- Debt at a Glance.
- BallotPedia: State Debt.