Elsewhere on the Web: States going broke

The Daily Beast, a national news Web site, has a state-by-state list of financial woes of the nation’s 50 states.

You may be happy (although maybe not overjoyed) to know that Washington ranks No. 35 from the top and Idaho No. 37 in their listing of perilous fiscal situations.

Not sure how serious to take this, though. The listing for Washington seems to have some basic figures correct, but its political news is a bit out of date when it mentions “the state implemented a tax on gum, bottled water, beer and candy” and puts the projected revenue at $122 million over the next year.

First, it wasn’t a single tax, but a series of taxes. OK, that’s a niggling point. But the taxes on three of those four were repealed by voters, so they aren’t projected to bring in any revenue over the next year.