California is going to Washington, D.C., to ask for $7 billion to cover its budget shortfall. Otherwise it won’t be able to pay for its teachers, cops, firemen, and other essential services. Unfortunately, California won’t be alone. A number of other states are experiencing a huge dive in tax revenue and could be going cap in hand to Uncle Sam alarmingly soon. How bad could it get? The potential cost for all the 31 states facing both major and minor shortfalls could be as much as $53.4 billion.
The data is based on a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released at the end of September and shows the states that have seen the biggest shortfalls in tax revenue in their fiscal 2009 budgets.
Read the article to see a list of the states that are in trouble. As bad as this list seems, I am pretty sure that it is already out of date. New York’s short fall in particular looks too small considering the melt down of the stock market and how much Wall Street impacts New York’s budget.