You can thank the public sector unions.

Via Washington Examiner:

Paying bills late, selling buildings and swiping money from special accounts are some of the gimmicks states are using to bypass balanced budget requirements, according to a new report on the tricks being used to paper over deep deficits.

From California to New Hampshire, state governments are using smoke and mirrors instead of cash to meet the constitutional or statutory mandates that they finish their fiscal years with balanced budgets, according to research from State Budget Solutions, a non-partisan group that monitors state spending.

The total accumulated state debt is about $5.1 trillion, or about $16,178 for every American, according to SBS.

“It’s really a terrible situation that keeps compounding year after year,” said Joe Luppino-Esposito, editor and counsel at SBS. “There absolutely will be a day of reckoning. The biggest joke of it all is that almost every state says it has a balanced budget. A lot of them claim that they have a surplus every year.”

The most costly gimmick is underfunding annual payments for government pensions. States now face about $3.9 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities, according to SBS.

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