Taxpayers Bear the Burden of the State's Promises

by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President/CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

Now that new accounting rules require the state to report pension debt in its balance sheet, taxpayers finally have a clear idea of the true state of Hawaii's finances ... give or take a few billion dollars.

As Truth in Accounting recently noted in its report on the financial state of Hawaii, using 2014 numbers instead of more recent data means that there is still $1.2 billion in pension debt and about $5.5 billion in health care debt that remains hidden from taxpayers. But that might not be the worst news.

The increased transparency in presenting most (if not all) of the pension debt is a step in the right direction, and now Hawaii citizens have a better idea of the state's liabilities. The bad news is that the individual taxpayer share of those liabilities is $28,500.

Misleading accounting rules have allowed the state to misrepresent its finances for years. While we've always known that this practice was damaging, getting the real numbers in black and white is only the beginning. We still need to embrace policies that will get our state budget and finances back on track.

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Background: Hawaii Taxpayers Still Not Getting Truthful Financial Reports