US Published National Debt
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The Truth
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Each Taxpayer's Share: $917,000
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.
Illinois comptroller ‘frustrated’ with late annual audits, says FY25 will be quicker
July 21, 2025
The Center Square
Illinois taxpayers still don’t have audited financials from fiscal year 2023, but the state’s comptroller says they’re working to speed annual reports up.
Truth In Accounting founder Sheila Weinberg said Illinois continues to be among the states with tardy financial reporting.
Coming in last place ... the state of Illinois
July 21, 2025
The News-Gazette
Truth-in-Accounting, a Chicago-based fiscal watchdog, has issued another in its series of reports on transparency in the states’ financial reporting.
Illinois, unfortunately, finished 50th in the ranking of all 50 states.
Property tax-cut push creates double bind for Deegan
July 20, 2025
Jacksonville Today
Meanwhile, a big-picture view of local finances, via the watchdogs at Truth in Accounting, suggests that the city council is as complicit as the mayor in not reining in big spending at the expense of the future.
Earlier this year, the group reported a per capita debt of nearly $10,000 for every person in the city, which puts Jacksonville 60th out of 75 cities ranked.
Is Gov. Pritzker Violating a SEC Cease and Desist Order?: Analysis of the Pension Funding Disclosures
September 10, 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.
New research shows the devastating impact of inflation on the dollar across three generations
September 5, 2025
As the national debate intensifies over the solvency of Social Security, Truth in Accounting (TIA) is urging policymakers and the public to look deeper: beyond “trust fund” projections and into the silent erosion of benefits through inflation.
Nevada Still Extremely Late on 2023 Financial Report Amid Statewide Cyber Outage
August 28, 2025
Nevada has become the last state in the nation to release its annual financial report for fiscal year 2023, which ended more than 780 days ago. While Illinois finally published its overdue report earlier this month, Nevada continues to lag, as we are missing two years of data.
To make matters worse, Nevada’s state websites and phone systems have been down for several days due to a widespread cyberattack. This outage has blocked public access to crucial government services. It also makes it impossible for our researchers to verify the state’s financial position in the lead-up to the release of our Financial State of the States report.
Illinois Sets a New National Record: 774 Days Late with Financial Reporting
August 21, 2025
Illinois has finally released its audited Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).
The bad news: It’s for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023.
According to the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), states should release these reports within 180 days of the fiscal year’s end. Illinois blew past that deadline—releasing its 2023 report a staggering 774 days late, setting a new national record.
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