Oklahoma leads nation in 2000-2010 per capita state spending growth

I ran across this graphic recently, and found it to be very interesting, especially considering that the Oklahoma Legislature is in the middle of passing a $7.1 billion state budget that increases almost a quarter billion over last year's budget. As Patrick McGuigan of CapitolBeatOK.com points out, this "will be the third straight increase in state spending since Republicans took over every part of state government in 2010."

According to Tax Foundation, "these percentages show the growth in direct spending between 2000 and 2010, in real dollars per capita (to eliminate the effects of population growth and inflation). Oklahoma leads the pack with a 74% increase in state government spending over ten years; Alaska, whose state government only grew 17% faster than its population, is at the bottom."