How Does Illinois' 'Taxpayer Burden' Compare to Neighboring States?

Being a taxpayer in Illinois pretty much stinks these days. Thanks to years of abhorrent financial mismanagement by the state government, the amount of debt borne by each Illinois taxpayer has reached unprecedented levels.

Truth in Accounting measures what it calls “taxpayer burden” by calculating the onus facing future taxpayers based on a state’s available assets to pay its bills.

As the taxpayer burden decreases in neighboring states, it is soaring in Illinois. For the third consecutive year, Illinois’ taxpayer burden was the second-highest in the nation.

Here are the latest available taxpayer burden figures in Illinois and its six closest neighbors. The five-year trend is downright depressing.

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