If the economy is booming, then why are so many states struggling with budget issues? Stateline.org takes a look at this issue in State budgets tenuous heading into '08
States awash in surpluses for the past two years are now treading water, with several desperately looking for lifelines to help them get out of budget trouble.
A slumping housing market and skimpier sales tax collections are busting budgets from California to Florida at a time when national job growth is sluggish and consumer confidence is at a nearly two-year low.
“The forecast is looking pretty grim,” Sujit M. CanagaRetna, a state tax expert for the Council of State Governments, said. “The implications for states are serious.”
Nasty budget brawls broke out this year in California, Georgia, Illinois and Rhode Island as states’ financial picture appears in transition. (Wisconsin is the only state in the country without a budget plan yet for the new current fiscal year, which for all but four states began July 1.)
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