Aug. 27, 2018

Last year, 17 of the 50 states in the U.S. had budget surpluses and it was reported on Aug. 26 that 39 states are running budget surpluses this year.

Though the financial situations have been getting better for the past nine years and numerous local governments are under pressure to cut taxes, those governments are reluctant to do so, just preparing for the next recession. Take Ohio for example. A budget surplus of $657 million was reported in July, but $2.7 billion would be put in the rainy day fund.

On the other hand, though some cities are still in difficult financial situations, most politicians consider that raising taxes is not a promising route to reelection, so they want the federal and state governments to share their wealth.