Politics & Government
How many nonprofits receive late payments from the state?
Did you know that nonprofits provide services (like daycare) to the state, but many are not paid until much later after completing the job?
Though most state governments seem to struggle with financial timeliness and accountability, Illinois easily takes the cake when it comes irresponsible reporting. According to data from Truth in Accounting’s State Data Lab, 48 percent of nonprofits reported late payments from the state of Illinois--triple the national average of 16.9 percent.
By contrast, all of Illinois’ neighbors came in considerably under the national average amount (between 3 and 14 percent). The only other state that came close to Illinois’ abysmal numbers was Rhode Island at 41 percent, followed by a slew of states that roughly 30 percent of nonprofits reported late payments for (California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, and Ohio).
It’s no surprise that Illinois and the rest of the states mentioned with disappointing numbers also generally reported high taxpayer burdens. Taxpayer burden is each taxpayer's share of state debt. Illinois’ taxpayer burden for the same year (2014) was -$42,200/taxpayer, and Rhode Island’s was -$14,000. California reported a burden of -$22,100, Hawaii at -$41,300, New Jersey at -$34,200, Nevada at -$3,100, New York at -$19,500, and Ohio at -$7,400.
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Illinois’ financial problems (demonstrated by its large taxpayer burden) and lack of timeless (apparent given the number of nonprofits reporting its late payments) point to larger issues in the state government. It’s time for Illinois to become a more transparent and responsible state.
Don't Illinoisans deserve better?
