San Jose's Taxpayer Burden tops $43,000

San Jose taxpayers are on the hook for more government debt than they think, according to a new report by the government finance watchdog group Truth in Accounting.

Earlier this year, TIA released a separate report that found the City of San Jose had a Taxpayer Burden™ of $10,600, which is each taxpayer’s share of municipal debt. You can also think of this as the amount of money each city taxpayer would have to contribute for San Jose to pay all of its bills.

San Jose, like many other cities, does not include the finances of local government units in its annual financial report that city taxpayers are also responsible for, such as public school districts and transportation authorities, to name a few.

Our new analysis, which you can find here, assesses the financial condition of these local government units in San Jose, as well as Santa Clara County.

If you combine the Taxpayer Burden of San Jose ($10,600), the largest local government units within the city’s jurisdiction ($10,810), and the state of California ($21,600), the overall Taxpayer Burden comes out to $43,010.

Of the local government units included in the analysis, Santa Clara County accounts for 69 percent of the Taxpayer Burden, or $7,440 per San Jose taxpayer.

San Jose ranked No. 6 out of the 10 most populous U.S. cities based on the combined Taxpayer Burdens of the state, city and local government entities. You can find the other cities’ reports and full ranking here.