I was challenged to investigate the CAFR's of Massachusetts by a friend who wouldn't tell me what it was. What I found was devastating. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (S1) is something like a balance sheet of a corporation. It shows actual expenditures unlike the annual budget report which shows only estimates of receipts and expenditures.
The CAFR(S1) for the fiscal year 2000 shows that at the end of the year, a little over 12.5 billion dollars of "unspent" taxes were kept by the state and invested....not carried over into the next budget. I also found an older article by Alan Greenspan where he states that these funds belong to the taxpayers and should be returned to the public.
Now the state of MA has two CAFR's - (S1)&(S2), but each city government also has 3 CAFR's and each county has 3, and I can't imagine the amount of excess taxes in the state totally, which should be returned to us, but I'll bet there's enough there to do away with taxes altogether.
This is in every state, not just MA. I used to be a local official in the Libertarian Party, but got out after learning just how crooked MA politicians are, but am now thinking of getting involved again and seeing if I can start some type of grassroots campaign or committee to see if I can force the release of these monies.
I found a lot of info at www.cafrman.com and you can check your own state there to see some interesting figures.
So much for budget deficits (those lying bastards - somebody give me a gun.)