Mississippi taxpayers owe $10,700 apiece for mounting debt

Can anyone spare an extra $10,700 for each Mississippi taxpayer?

In a new “Financial State of the States” report released by the non-partisan fiscal analysis group Truth in Accounting, that’s how much Mississippi taxpayers would each have to contribute to pay off a $7.7 billion budget shortfall.

For those keeping score at home, the state’s debt stacked in one-dollar bills would ascend 522 miles, or more than twice as high as the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit — between 198 and 215 miles above the Earth’s surface.

The state’s finances were rated as the 19th worst among the “sinkhole” states, which have a high taxpayer burden.

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