Spending »
Nevada’s “Expenditure Need” Low
The Urban Institute is a “non-partisan think tank” (doesn’t everyone claim to be?) that has published a comparative study of the 50 states, looking at each state’s revenue capacity, expenditure need, and overall level of fiscal capacity. The link is to a PDF file that includes the entire 90-page report.
The study defines a state’s expenditure need as
the amount that a state would have to spend on its residents to provide services on par with the national average. Expenditure need is calculated across seven broad spending categories, and state amounts can differ based on differences in population or other factors. For example, all other things being equal, a state with a large percentage of its population between the ages of 5 and 18 has a higher need for spending on education than one with fewer schoolage children. A state with a high expenditure effort spends more than its expenditure need.
The interesting part of the report is that Nevada’s “expenditure need” was fourth from last (see chart on page 71). Places like Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana topped this chart. And this was using data from before Nevada’s record tax hike in 2003 and spending splurge that took place in the years right after the study.
This study would seem to indicate that Nevada has shifted from a low-tax-and-spend state to a little above average over the past couple of decades, even though some of our political leaders still say our spending is much lower than other states in an effort to increase taxes.
