Responsible State Budget Project

In 2023, Americans for Tax Reform launched the Responsible Budget Project, a new venture that monitors state government spending and documents which states have or have not enacted responsible budgets. The RBP defines a responsible budget as one that grows state government spending at a slower pace than the rate of population growth plus inflation, which accounts for the average taxpayer’s ability to pay for government spending. 

Click on the map below to see how state government spending has grown in each state over the past decade, how that compares to the rate of population growth plus inflation, the dollar amount that the next budget would need to stay below in ordered to be classified as a responsible budget, and other helpful fiscal and economic facts.