The United States Bureau of the Census conducts an Annual Survey of Government  Finances, as authorized by law under Title 13, United States Code, Section 182.  Alternatively, every five years, in years ending in a '2' or '7', a Census of Governments,  including a Finance portion, is conducted under Title 13, Section 161.  For both the  Census and this 1997-98 annual survey, the finance detail data is equivalent,  encompassing the entire range of government finance activities -- revenue, expenditure,  debt, and assets.

The tables contained here provide a summary of the annual survey findings for state and  local governments. The tables contain detail of revenue by type, expenditure by object  and function, indebtedness by term, and assets by purpose.