[Question_Assumptions]

Government overhead costs run about 50 percent. So if you give the government $1, getting back anything over 50 cents is a bargain.

That's the message I wish they'd get people to understand.

I think Texas breaks about even. New Mexico makes out like a bandit. West Virginia does pretty well, too, thanks to "Sheets".

[So Cal Rocket]

Government overhead costs run about 50 percent. So if you give the government $1, getting back anything over 50 cents is a bargain.

Even overhead has to be spent somewhere! Almost every dollar the US Government spends, whether it's a direct payment to an individual through a subsidy program, to build an interstate highway, or to pay some bureaucrat's salary is spent in some state. (Foriegn aid is an exception.)

As a matter of fact, since the US Government is deficit spending, the total amount of Government spending in the 50 states EXCEEDS the amount of taxes received from the citizens of those states, so on a whole, the overall payback exceeds 100%.