States Rely On Feds to Balance the Books

Time for states to forgo making decisions that effect outcomes on the amount of monies that can gather from the feds, which then will force them take responsibility for their result. The feds should begin to demand states live within their own revenue collections.

It appears some states, like much of the rest of the country, has decided to let others pay the bills.

Mississippi Relies Most, Alaska Least, on Federal Aid
Source: Liz Malm and Richard Borean, "Which States Rely the Most on Federal Aid?" Tax Foundation, January 8, 2015.

January 12, 2015

States charge their residents property, sales and income taxes -- and more -- to fund operations, but a new chart from the Tax Foundation highlights another major source of state funds: federal aid.
Liz Malm and Richard Borean have created a map depicting the amount of federal aid, as a percentage of state revenue, states get from the federal government. Who's taking in the most? For fiscal year 2012:

• In Mississippi, 45.3 percent of general revenue came from the federal government.
• Other states with high amounts of federal aid included Louisiana (44 percent), Tennessee (41 percent), South Dakota (40.8 percent), Missouri (39.4 percent) and Montana (39 percent).
• The states with the least amount of federal aid as a share of their revenues? Alaska (20 percent), North Dakota (20.5 percent), Virginia (23.5 percent) and Hawaii.

On average, 31.5 percent of state general revenues in 2012 came from the federal government. The map with information for all 50 states is available here.