State budgets in crisis

As U.S. states struggle with unprecedented deficits, they are taking controversial measures to try to boost revenue and keep spending down.

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Rhode Island officials are pondering lowering retirement payments, replacing part of the guaranteed pensions with 401(k)-type accounts, and sharply reducing generous cost-of-living increases enjoyed by retirees. The Rhode Island legislature is expected to consider changes next month during a special session. The Rhode Island State House is pictured here.

/ AP

The District's parking meter enforcement officers are raking in revenue for the cash-strapped city at a dizzying rate this year. Their parking tickets reap $1.5 million a week, or $219,000 a day, or $450 a minute or $8 a second, according to AAA. The numbers are up sharply this year, AAA said, with more than $50 million collected by May.

Amanda Voisard

Colorado has become the second-largest market for medical marijuana behind California. The interim city attorney for Denver reported that the city brought in $3.5 million taxes from marijuana sales in 2010.

Ed Andrieski / AP Photo

In June, California announced that it would begin collecting tax on out-of-state sellers, including Amazon.com -- setting off a national debate about an Internet sales tax. Amazon has objected to the proposal, cutting ties with 10,000 businesses in the state so that it no longer has a physical presence in the state and collecting signatures to put the measure to a vote by the state’s residents. Recently, Amazon has offered to bring 7,000 jobs to California in exchange for a two-year moratorium on taxes.

RICK WILKING / REUTERS

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker has sought to balance his state’s budget by reducing benefits for public workers, a proposal that promoted a siege of the state Capitol by as many as 100,000 protesters in February. Here, Neporsha Hamlin, center, of Madison, Wis., protests the governor's budget bill at the state Capitol in February.

Andy Manis / AP Photo

Battles with public employees' unions spread from Wisconsin to Ohio and Indiana in February, in what some experts called the biggest assault in recent memory on collective bargaining rights. Here, demonstrators rally in support of Wisconsin workers at the Illinois Capitol in Springfield.

Seth Perlman / AP

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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 27: Christian Slayton, 12 prays to a fallen soldiers memorial as motorcycles from the Rolling Thunder event pass by in Washington, DC on May 27, 2012. Slayton, who is from Raleigh, NC ran out to the makeshift memorial to say a prayer of thanks for all the veterans living and fallen. He said he wanted to thank them for letting us be free and able to have the rights that some countries never had. Riders from across the nation come together every year to ride from the Pentagon over to the National Mall as a rememberance those POW and MIAs in the Vietnam War. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 24: Aaron Rubinstein, center, with fellow students, lights candles before the annual Mass for family members of the cadavers used in anatomy studies on May, 24, 2012 in Washington, DC. At right are Steven Kazuska and Meghan Kuska. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

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FAIRFAX, VA - MAY 23: US Army Veteran Sandra Strickland embraces her daughter, Heaven, 8, after dinner Wednesday May 23, 2012 in Fairfax, VA. After losing her job, custody of her children and being evicted from her apartment, Strickland moved into a home for homeless female veterans provided by Final Salute, Inc. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

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Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Volodymyr Litvin (Bottom) looks on as deputies of the Ukrainian opposition fight with deputies of the pro-presidential majority during a session of parliament in Kiev, as opposition parties protest a bill proposed by the ruling party which would make Russian an official state language along with Ukrainian. AFP PHOTO/STRINGERSTR/AFP/GettyImages

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Red Panda Bears sleep in the Panda Bear enclosure at the Beijing Zoo on May 22, 2012. The zoo grounds were originally a Ming Dynasty imperial palace and finally opened to the public in 1908. The zoo's history states that during the WWII, most of the zoo's animals died of starvation with only 13 monkeys and one old emu surviving the war. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages

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State budgets in crisis

As U.S. states struggle with unprecedented deficits, they are taking controversial measures to try to boost revenue and keep spending down.

Featured Photo Galleries