The long term key is management of spending, including pensions. New York & California, and of course Illinois, have egregiously huge debt. Service payments on debt are a larger share of spending every year. Taxes at the state and local level go up in some way almost every year, rarely ever going down*. SPENDING is the first thing that needs to be addressed for good long-term fiscal management.

*New York's [[both city and state) income tax revenue swings wildly with Wall Street. When Wall Street makes a lot of money, the revenue spikes. In a bad year or years, it plummets. Irresponsible politicians that run NY don't stash away money in the strong years, they use it as an excuse to spend more, making the tight years worse [[when they hike taxes and borrow more). This is why NYC & NY State have very high income, property, and sales taxes. All three much higher than here. And, if history is any guide, they will be higher 5 years from now than they are today. The amount of their own money the people get to keep declines almost annually. It is NOT a tax issue. You can never tax enough to keep up with irresponsible spending. NEVER.