Financial State of the Union before COVID-19

On Tuesday, April 7, Truth in Accounting released its second annual Financial State of the Union (FSOU) report. The report found that the United States government needs $113 trillion to pay its bills, which equates to a $737,000 per-Taxpayer Burden. This means that in order to pay off the country’s debt each taxpayer would have to write a $737,000 check to the federal government.

The FSOU report is an analysis of the 2019 Financial Report of the United States Government. The FSOU includes reported federal assets and liabilities, and promised Social Security and Medicare benefits. The report found that the financial condition of the United States worsened by $8.16 trillion from the previous year.

The government’s $117.26 trillion in liabilities is made up of Medicare benefits, Social Security benefits, publicly held debt, military and civilian retirement benefits, and other liabilities.

The Treasury Department only includes $173.70 billion of Social Security and Medicare liabilities on the federal balance sheet, but the FSOU report found the government owes $52.72 trillion in promised Medicare benefits and $37.60 trillion in promised Social Security benefits.

The FSOU presents the true financial condition of the federal government right before the coronavirus crisis hit. Recently, Congress passed a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package. Although we do not know the long-term effects this stimulus will have on federal finances, we can learn more about the state of the country’s finances before the coronavirus pandemic.

Learn more about the breakdown of the financial condition of the United States government here.