US Published National Debt
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The Truth
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Each Taxpayer's Share: $ 993,000
Financial State of the Union 2025
According to the most recent audited Financial Report of the U.S. Government, our nation’s true debt has climbed to $158.6 trillion, burdening each federal taxpayer with $974,000.
Financial State of the Cities 2025
The Financial State of the Cities report found that 54 cities did not have enough money to pay their bills. Each city has some form of a balanced budget requirement, but this new report shows that cities have not met the intent of their requirement and have pushed costs onto future taxpayers.
Financial State of the States 2024
Our fifteenth annual Financial State of the States (FSOS) report provides a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal health of all 50 states.
Data-Z (database for state and city data)
Create your own chart with more than 700 data variables at the federal, state, and city levels.
Falling revenue, soaring costs threaten Pittsburgh’s financial future
May 4, 2025
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
For city leaders, the internal report one year ago was startling: Pittsburgh’s finances, despite the glowing claims of some elected officials, were on the brink of disaster.
Common Sense And Deficit Spending
May 2, 2025
The Connecticut Centinal
Although the state of Connecticut is sitting on a massive accumulative state pension debt of some $35 billion, most of the chatter in our media concerns the state’s biennial “surplus.”
Dallas’s $8.2B Debt Demands Ethical Leaders, Not West’s Financial Fumbles
April 30, 2025
The Dallas Express
Dallas’s $5 billion budget and $8.2 billion debt demand City Council members with the integrity and skill to steward taxpayer dollars responsibly. Yet a litany of financial mismanagement—from Council Member Chad West’s ethics probe to a $5.7 million Fair Park discrepancy, the city manager’s admission of misspent funds, and now the $29 million Stemmons building debacle—reveals a City Hall failing its residents. With taxpayers already burdened by rising debt, Dallas deserves leaders who prioritize the public good, not personal or political gain.
The Peterson Foundation’s Solutions Initiative 2024 Falls Short of Truthful Accounting
May 9, 2025
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s Solutions Initiative 2024 deserves recognition for elevating the national conversation around fiscal sustainability. Bringing together diverse think tanks showcases a spectrum of ideas for tackling deficits and reducing debt. Yet despite its breadth, the Initiative fails to address a foundational issue: the truth about our government’s financial condition.
Potential Concerns Regarding SEC Compliance: Analysis of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Pension Funding Disclosures
April 25, 2025
In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the State of Illinois with securities fraud for misleading municipal bond investors about its pension funding obligations. The SEC’s investigation found that Illinois, between 2005 and 2009, misrepresented the risks associated with its pension funding schedule when offering more than $2.2 billion in municipal bonds. The state failed to disclose that its statutory plan significantly underfunded pension obligations, thereby increasing financial risks. In 2013, Illinois agreed to a cease-and-desist order to resolve SEC charges under Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933. (link to the SEC Cease-and-Desist Order)
The CPA Education Gap: Why Future Accountants Aren’t Learning How Government Really Works
April 24, 2025
This disconnect is precisely why Truth in Accounting's work is so essential—and why education reform is a crucial part of the long game. If we want financial transparency in government, we need to teach future accountants, journalists, and citizens how the system actually works.
Despite the critical role state, local, and federal governments play in managing trillions of taxpayer dollars, most accounting students graduate without ever learning how public finances are actually reported.
Why Government Accounting Reform Is Foundational to Economic Policy
April 24, 2025
Behind every economic policy—from infrastructure to healthcare, from tax cuts to social programs—is a budget. And behind every budget is an assumption about what money exists to spend. But what if those numbers aren’t telling the truth?
For decades, state and local governments have masked massive debts through accounting tricks and budget gimmicks, claiming balanced budgets while racking up unfunded pension and healthcare liabilities in the hundreds of billions.
This isn’t just an accounting problem—it’s a policy problem.
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