(The Center Square) – Illinois is one of four states that received a failing grade on the 2026 Financial State of the States report, but Truth in Accounting said there is a legislative way to improve Illinois’ financial health.
The report used audited financial reports and retirement system data to examine each state’s financial health.
Illinois finished 48th out of 50 states, ahead of only Connecticut and last-place New Jersey.
Truth in Accounting founder and CEO Sheila Weinberg said Illinois’ taxpayer burden is $36,900.
“This is how much each taxpayer is going to be burdened with in the future to pay for cost that’s already incurred. Each taxpayer can look at it as an additional credit card that they have that the state continues to charge expenses to,” Weinberg told The Center Square.
Weinberg said Illinois does not currently have the money to pay $166.3 billion in bills.
“In the private sector, this would be considered bankruptcy, but in the state of Illinois, they claim everything is good,” Weinberg said.
Although the report gave Kentucky a D, other neighboring states fared far better. Iowa earned an A. Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin got Bs.
Weinberg said, despite the F, Illinois’ financial condition actually improved, thanks to revenue from the federal government and good investment returns.
“Unfortunately, Illinois, despite this great return on your investments, their pension liability did not go down significantly. It still has 47 cents available for every dollar promised,” Weinberg said.
Weinberg said the state legislature should pass Truth in Accounting’s Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Act.
“Instead of using political math to calculate whether they balance the budget, it would require them to use similar to corporate accounting standards to balance their budget,” Weinberg said, adding that the state is currently allowed to record loan proceeds as revenue and balance its general fund by shifting money from other funds.
“And the biggest thing that goes on is that the state is not funding what their actuaries say they should fund into their pension plans,” Weinberg said.
The report said years of chronic underfunding left Illinois with the lowest-funded pension plans of all 50 states.
