Article published today by Johnny Kampis (Taxpayers Protection Alliance), includes “The Chicago-based Truth in Accounting (TIA), a financial watchdog, is fighting the efforts of the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) to enshrine a system of accounting into place the group says allows governments to paint a misleading picture of taxpayer debt.

 

…Bill Bergman, research director for TIA, told the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) that former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was known for citing balanced budgets, but on an accrual basis the city was annually piling up $1 billion more in debt as its current and future expenses exceeded its revenue. ‘It’s like telling your spouse you’re balancing your family budget by borrowing on your credit card,’ Bergman said. …

… GASB has received about two dozen comment letters so far, including one from Mary Pat Campbell, an accountant in North Salem, New York, who said, ‘the GASB exposure drafts … seem to provide incentives for state or local governments to behave in ways deleterious to sustainable public fiscal positions. This is not a laudable goal for an accounting standard.’ …”

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