A serious financial storm is brewing in a handful of states which could diminish their desirability as locations for future industrial development. Companies planning new distribution centers or manufacturing plants take note: significant increases in taxes and fees could await you.

In 2008 states had a collective pension and health care liability of $3.35 trillion, but only $2.35 trillion on hand to fund them. Given the orgy of state spending since 2008 and declining stock market performance, the funding gap is probably larger than $1 trillion now.

The Pew Center on the States rated the performance of each state relative to the percent of pension obligations funded, relationship between their unfunded liabilities and covered payroll, and the share of
actuarially required contributions made in the past five years. The map above shows the ranking, highlighting the 17 states with the poorest performance, those Pew labels as "serious concerns."

Expect these states to be whipsawed by poor investment performance, aging workers, union opposition to changes in current pension structure and payouts, declining tax receipts, growing government payrolls, and lower bond ratings that increase the cost of borrowing.