Treasury Launches Online “Follow Your Money” Budget Tracker

Kennedy Says Citizens Can See How Much Money State Government Spends Each Second

BATON ROUGE, LA – The Louisiana Department of the Treasury has launched an online “Follow Your Money” budget tracker on its website to help citizens see exactly how much of their tax dollars are being spent by state government each second, according to State Treasurer John Kennedy.

“We wanted to make this information more accessible to taxpayers, because it shouldn’t require a master’s degree in finance to figure out exactly where your tax dollars are going,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “We’ve separated this year’s $26.7 billion budget into separate pie charts for revenues and expenditures. We also have a budget tracker that counts down state government spending until the fiscal year ends on June 30.”

“Follow Your Money” can be accessed from the homepage of the Treasury’s website located at www.latreasury.com. From this link, state expenditures and revenues are broken down by various departments and categories, and web users can mouse over each category for further details. “Follow Your Money” also shows how much money the state is spending each second including “Your Share” of the expenses.

“The Legislature will be hammering out a new budget in the upcoming session and will be discussing how to spend even more of your money,” said Treasurer Kennedy. “Next year’s proposed budget is nearly $1.5 billion more than this year’s, even after you back out federal dollars. We need to take a hard look at state spending and start living within our means. It’s time state government made some of the tough decisions that Louisiana families have to make every day.”
 

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