Rhode Island
RI Government Is Outgrowing Your Paycheck: State and Local Spending Up 32% Per Person in Five Years While Incomes Rose 25%, and RI Ranks No. 1 in Fire Spending, RIPEC Finds
What the report found
The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) released its annual 50-state comparison of state and local taxing and spending on Oct. 19. It uses U.S. Census data for fiscal 2024 and compares the results with fiscal 2019. The core finding, as the Globe reported: between FY 2019 and FY 2024, Rhode Island’s per capita personal income grew 25%, compared with 32% nationally, and the state fell from 16th to 22nd in that ranking. Over the same period, RIPEC says, total state and local spending, including federal dollars, reached $15,102 per capita, up 32%.
“The cost of state and local government is outpacing Rhode Islanders’ ability to pay,” RIPEC president and CEO Michael DiBiase said. “Because our economy is growing more slowly than the nation’s, the same level of taxing and spending is taking a bigger bite out of Rhode Islanders’ incomes.”
Where Rhode Island stands out
From RIPEC’s key findings:
• Public safety: 5th nationally, per capita and by income, at 1.7 times the New England level by income. Fire protection ranked 1st on both measures.
• Government administration: 7th per capita and 6th by income, at 1.6 times the New England level by income.
• Social services and income maintenance (primarily Medicaid; 32% of spending): up 41% per capita, and 39% above New England by income.
• Sales and excise taxes: up 46% per capita in five years, jumping from 28th to 17th per capita.
• Property taxes: 10th per capita and 8th by income.
• Corrections: up eight spots by income, to 18th. The Globe notes this is “Despite low incarceration rates.”
• Transportation: the bottom third (36th per capita, 41st by income). Higher education: 45th per capita.
“In public safety and government administration, our high costs reflect in part the many services delivered by small local governments, not greater need,” DiBiase said, per What’sUpNewp. “And while we spend heavily on K-12 education, our student outcomes remain middling.” He also said, per the Globe: “As policymakers confront affordability challenges, they should be asking what residents are getting in return for high taxing and spending.”
The near-term budget picture
WPRI’s Ted Nesi noted Oct. 24 that state general revenue came in 4.3% above expectations in the first three months of the fiscal year, “due to strong sales and business tax revenue,” so the next governor may not inherit as big a deficit as forecast. “But a new RIPEC study finds the state is still increasing spending faster than receipts can keep up.”
Original reporting
Read the underlying sources:
RIPEC — How Rhode Island Taxing and Spending Compares (Oct. 19, 2026)
Virtue Forge commentary
When government grows faster than the economy that pays for it, someone pays the difference. In Rhode Island that has been taxpayers. Sales and excise taxes are up 46% per person in five years, and property taxes are already top-ten nationally. The report also points to a deeper problem, and RIPEC says it plainly: the state pays premium prices for middling results. That means No. 1 in fire spending, 1.6 times New England on administration, and heavy K-12 spending with “middling” outcomes.
Much of this is self-inflicted structure: 39 cities and towns, each with its own departments, contracts and overhead, sitting on top of a state government that keeps adding programs. One strong revenue quarter doesn’t change the trend line. With a governor’s race on Nov. 3, voters should ask each candidate a simple question. Which specific costs would you control, and how would you know whether residents are getting their money’s worth?
What to watch
• Whether Foulkes, Block or Guckian commits to specific cost controls before Nov. 3.
• Agency FY 2028 budget requests now being filed, and the November revenue and caseload estimating conferences.
• Any push for regionalization or consolidation of local services such as fire and administration.