September 21, 2009
Tax Foundation Announces New State Government Data, Research on Website
Nonpartisan Research and Educational Organization Unveils Information on State and Local Government Employee Pensions, Compensation
Washington, DC, September 28, 2009 - "Since our founding in 1937, the Tax Foundation has been looked to for principled data, research, and analysis of tax issues at all levels of government, including important projects such as Tax Freedom Day, State-Local Tax Burdens, State Business Tax Climate Index and Facts & Figures," Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge said. "We are therefore pleased to be expanding the resources on our website with additional information on state budgets and state government operations."
The information is organized into four general categories: State and Local Government Units (http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/topic/138.html), State and Local Government Employee Retirement Systems (http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/topic/141.html), Public vs. Private Sector Compensation (http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/topic/139.html) and State and Local Government Employees and Pay, by Function (http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/topic/140.html). Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. 191, "New Data and Research on State Governments on Tax Foundation Website," details more information about each section and may be found online at http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/25205.html.
The section on state and local government units includes statistics on important and often overlooked state and local government entities—89,476 of them to be exact, which together collected $768 billion in fiscal year 2006.
The new data on state and local government pensions includes state-by-state information on the average benefit paid per beneficiary, state population per beneficiary, and employer versus employee contributions to the plans.
Part of the Tax Foundation's new research includes the 22 million jobs in the United States belonging to federal, state and local governments—or about 15 percent of the 144 million total wage and salary jobs in the country. The data in this section relates to the average compensation received by both government and private sector employees.
Finally, the Tax Foundation has made available information on many specific government functions, including average wages for employees working in the different government functions and the number of government employees per 10,000 state residents.
"We hope that this information will enable both policymakers and the general public to achieve greater understanding of the over 89,000 state and local government entities in the United States," Hodge said.
The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937.
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To schedule an interview, please contact Natasha Altamirano, the Tax Foundation's Manager of Media Relations, at (202) 464-5102 or naltamirano@taxfoundation.org.
