Each year, some smart people in the nonprofit Truth in Accounting pore over the financial statements of the several states and compare them. We last reported on their findings five years ago when they gave us some utterly depressing news: when you added up what we have, including cash and other assets available to pay bills, and subtract what we are obligated to pay, including not only bond debt but also commitments to pay state retirees pensions (our Employees’ Retirement System, or ERS) and provide them health care for life (the Hawaiʻi Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, or EUTF), the result, when divided by our taxpayer population, was a staggering $37,000 per taxpayer. (Debt attached to capital assets like land and buildings is not counted because the capital assets are not counted.)
Read the full article on: Aloha State Daily