New Federal Reserve data show that state and local government debt has topped $2 trillion. At the end of first quarter 2007, state and local debt was $2.050 trillion, which is up 9.6 percent from first quarter 2006.
State and local debt growth has been explosive since 2001. In Table D.1 (see link), you can see that debt growth has soared in recent years, compared to the more moderate growth rates on the 1990s.
This is disturbing because current strong tax revenue growth in the states should be allowing governments to pay down debt in a prudent fashion before the next recession hits.
In Table D.3, you can see that state and local debt increased just 21 percent for the entire decade 1990–2000. Yet between 2000 and 2006, debt soared 68 percent.
For further discussion, see
https://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_0706-37.pdf
