Illinois Debt: $100 Bills Stacked 9 Miles High

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ State government faces a budget deficit so vast that filling it will almost certainly require a painful mixture of tax increases, service cuts and creative accounting.

Just how deep is the hole? By some estimates, it tops $11.5 billion. Convert that into $100 bills and it would create a stack nearly 9 miles high. The bills would weigh 126 tons.

How Bad Is It? When people talk about the deficit, they're really talking about the combined gap for the current budget and the one that takes effect in July. That's because state officials are going to let the current deficit roll over and make the next budget that much uglier.

A deficit of $11.5 billion would amount to $917 for every man, woman and child in the state. That's roughly the same amount that Illinois schools get from the state.

If officials wanted to tax their way out of the hole, they would have to double the income tax. If they wanted to cut spending, eliminating the Transportation Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the child-welfare department would just about do it.