evidence: Preliminary data suggest that states closed out calendar year 2020 with only $1.7 billion less revenue than they generated in 2019 (a decline of less than 0.2 percent), not counting federal assistance, while municipal governments actually experienced substantial revenue growth due to rising property values. Yet the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) sets aside $350 billion in additional state and local aid. Increasingly, federal proposals to provide a cash infusion for state and local governments has become a solution in search of a problem. [...] This is not to say that every state or local government is doing well. States with a heavy reliance on the energy industry are struggling, a problem which predates the pandemic but was exacerbated by it. Tourism destination states have also been adversely impacted by the pandemic. Consequently, the worst losses are in energy states like Alaska and North Dakota (both of which facing losses in excess of 20 percent of revenue), while states like Florida, Hawaii, and Nevada also have losses ranging from 7 to 14 percent, even though average revenue losses are -0.2 percent, the median is -0.4 percent, and 23 states saw revenue gains.