A great mystery of sorts

As I prepare in the coming weeks to get my first paycheck in about five years subject to a state income tax, I ask myself where the money goes. The state I am now living and working in is now bankrupt and the roads are terrible. I ask myself how a state of over thirty million people can have roads that are in the same shape as the least meaintained roads back home, where there is no income tax. What does the money go towards?

I wonder this question when I drive to the beach and it is ten dollars jsut to drive in and wlak around, far more than in other areas I passed through to get there. If this state does not pay to maintain its roads and charges so much for parks, where is the money going? This state has proposed to close up to a hundred state parks, which would save something on the orders of 0.01% of the amount needed to close the deficit, while it has an unholy amount of taxes and fees. I do not object to the taxes, I want to know what return the taxpayer is getting on their money. It is disgraceful that a state with a GDP in the top 8 in the world, cannot maintain their roads and are contemplating releasing prisoners to put some stop to the fiscal bleeding. The schools are poorly rated year in and year out, so where is the money going? All I know is that it is not going to basic needs for the state.