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Governments 
Annual Survey of State Government Finances
ANNUAL SURVEY OF STATE GOVERNMENT FINANCES
PURPOSE
To provide annual statistics on the financial activity of the fifty state governments. The United States Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey and responses are voluntary.
COVERAGE
Annual census of all fifity state governments, including all dependent agencies, institutions, commissions, and public authorities that operate separately or somewhat autonomously from the central state government but where the state government maintains aministraitve or fiscal control over their activities.
CONTENT
Statistics on state government finances include measurement of revenues by type (e.g., sales taxes, income taxes, federal aid, fees, and so on), expenditures by character (e.g., current operations, capital outlay, intergovernmental expenditures, and so on) and function (e.g., education, health, welfare, natural resources, and so on), indebtedness (including both public debt for unspecified purposes and publci debt for private purposes), and cash and security holdings (including both public and priviate securities). Reference period covers state government fiscal years.
FREQUENCY
Data collection begins in October, and continues for about 9 months. Data are developed from administrative accounting records provided to the Census Bureau by the state governments central accounting or finance offices. State government finances is the second oldest Census Bureau statistical series on government activities. It started in 1915 and has continued regularly except for 1920, 1921 (partial data), and 1933 to 1936. Data between 1942 and 1950 were conducted during the even years only (i.e., 1942, 1944, 1946, 1948, and 1950). Although conducted annually since 1950 reports prior to 1951 are not comparable due to major classification revisions that took effect with the 1951 report.
METHODS
An enumeration of all 50 states. Data are compiled from accounting records provided by each state government from their central accounting system for all or most of their agencies. Data for other state-level entities, such as state institutions, commissions, component units, public authorities, and other state-level dependent government organizations are obtained form financial records of those indiviudal entities.
PRODUCTS
Annual Survey of State Government Finance reports are released approximately 17 months following the close of the reference period. Tables provide summary data on financial activity of the 50 state governments only. Reports include revenue by source, expenditures by function, indebtedness, and financial holdings. In addition, downloadable files provide further details..
USES
The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses the data as a primary source for updating its measures of the government sector of the National Income and Product Accounts. The Federal Reserve Board uses the data as a primary source for its Flow of Funds Accounts. State and local governmentts use the data to assess their financial condition, make peer-government comparisions, plan new programs, and develop financial policies. and the Federal Reserve Board use the data for econometric models of the economy. State and local governments use the data for trend analysis in various types of taxes and regional comparisons. Business and financial market analysts follow tax trends through these data.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Provides the most comprehensive comparative, uniformly classified data on the economic activity of state governments.
RELATED PROGRAMS
State Government Tax
Collections Survey
Annual
Survey of State and Local Government Finances
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You are here: Economic Programs Overview
Governments
Annual Survey of State Government Finances
Last revised: December 15, 2008
