PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked seventh among the states and the District of Columbia for having the highest amount of state and local debt per capita in the 2012 fiscal year at $11,362 per person, according to information from the Tax Foundation.
The independent tax policy research organization said Washington, D.C. had the highest amount debt per capita at $18,521. Among the states, New York ranked first at $17,405.
The rest of the top five are: Massachusetts, $14,517; Alaska, $13,066; Connecticut, $11,928; and New Jersey, $11,623. As for the remaining New England states, New Hampshire ranked 22nd with $8,159 in state and local debt per capita; Vermont was 33rd at $7,306; and Maine was 38th at $6,504.
On the other end of the spectrum, states with the lowest state and local debt per capita were: Idaho, $3,930 per person; Wyoming, $4,191 per person; Arkansas, $4,742; Mississippi, $4,891; and Oklahoma, $4,944.
According to the Tax Foundation, state and local debt can be broken into short-term and long-term debt. Short-term debt is typically issued to align collections with expenditures over the budget cycle, and long-term debt is issued to cover the cost of capital projects, particularly infrastructure improvements.
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