State-Local Government Spending Priorities: Where's Washington Rank?

For folks who take "follow the money" literally ... and don't most of us? - this new Tax Foundation report may provide hours of entertainment and some illumination.

Based on recently released Census data, a new Tax Foundation report reveals state and local government spending priorities.

State and local government spending is broken down for nine specific functional categories and a miscellaneous catch-all: K-12 education, higher education, public welfare, hospitals and health, transportation, public safety, environment and housing, government administration, interest on debt and other. In each category, the percentage of total spending is shown so that state priorities can be compared whether combined state and local budgets are comparatively large or small.

Washington shows up in the top ten in three categories.

The states that concentrate spending on health and hospitals are, from 1 to 10, South Carolina (15.9%), Wyoming (15.2%), Alabama (14.7%), Mississippi (13.6%), North Carolina (12.9%), Tennessee (12.2%), Iowa (12.1%), Washington (11.6%), Georgia (10.6%) and Missouri (10.5%). The national average is 8.4%...

The states that spend the highest percentage on transportation are, from 1 to 10, South Dakota (15.8%), Alaska (15.6%), North Dakota (14.2%), Montana (12.2%), Nevada (12.2%), Georgia (11.5%), Wyoming (10.8%), Idaho (9.7%), Kentucky (9.6%) and Washington (9.5%). The national average is 7.6%...

The states that concentrate spending on the environment and housing are, from 1 to 10, Louisiana (15.1%), Florida (11.1%), Washington (9.7%), Hawaii (9.6%), South Dakota (9.3%), California (9.3%), Oregon (9.1%), Arizona (9.1%), Colorado (9.0%) and Maryland (8.9%), compared to the national average of 7.7%.

Let the priorities of government debate begin afresh. The full report is here.