How many ways can state governments conceal the amount of money they're actually spending? The Nevada Policy Research Institute spent some time trying to review Nevada's spending habits, and came up with at least three patterns of behavior that make it hard for citizens to understand just how much money their governments are spending--and how the money is being spent.

There is, for example, reports that are so vague as to give no useful information about what the money was spent on. For example, the state gave one firm "$56,900 over 11 years for a total of 822 units of vitamin D – with no information available on the size of these units. Were they 822 single capsules of vitamin D, 822 boxes of vitamin D, 822 boxes of bottles of vitamin D or, perhaps, some combination of these?"

In addition, says fiscal policy analyst Louis Dezseran, reporting on grants to non-profit groups should be improved.

He also criticizes "off-the-record transactions."