Current Spending Cuts Insufficient to Balance Budgets in the Long Run

The above chart by Mercatus Center Research Fellow Matt Mitchell illustrates the drastic contrast between states’ needed budget cuts and the cuts that they have been willing to make thus far.  According to the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers, from 2009 to 2010, state and local budget cuts amounted to 6.8% of general fund spending.  However, GAO finds a sustained budget cut of nearly twice the 2009-2010 cut is necessary to balance state budgets in the long-term.

Matt Mitchell charts states’ paths to unsustainable spending levels.