Tax wise, it's Tough Out West(CA only gets $.79 for every dollar sent to D.C.)

San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | March 27, 2006 | staff

[kellynla]

WASHINGTON – When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came back here last month to “collectinate,” we heard again that California gets from Washington a paltry 79 cents for each dollar it sends to the nation's capital.

We thought we had the whole, sad California-doesn't-get-its-fair-share picture. But we didn't. Because along came the Tax Foundation this month with more details than we wanted to know about the sorry state we're in.

The foundation, a nonpartisan group that monitors government fiscal policies, reports that in 1994, California got a whole 98 cents back for every dollar it sent to Washington. In 2004, it got this wretched 79 cents. About a decade ago, the Golden State ranked No. 32 in the nation in terms of how much money Washington returned. Now it's No. 43.

Meanwhile, California ranks No. 9 when it comes to residents' federal income tax burden – with each Californian having to fork over, on average, about $3,187 a year to Uncle Sam out here on the Potomac.

[Names Ash Housewares]

We would just spend it on illegal aliens anyways.

[kellynla]

If we had a true blue conservative governor we could build the levees and border wall ourselves!!!

GEORGE BUSH, YOU OWE CALIFORNIANS 54 BILLION DOLLARS!

[JohnnyZ]

why don't you commies just go away and form your own country

Stop promoting socialism throughout America

You tax yourselves plenty, if you won't go away you should be happy rich little liberals and give DC all your money

[ModelBreaker]

This is what happens to wealthy states when you have a progressive income tax. They ship more money out than comes back. I thought all those lefty californians were in favor of income redistribution.

[kellynla]

"why don't you commies just go away and form your own country
Stop promoting socialism throughout America

You tax yourselves plenty, if you won't go away you should be happy rich little liberals and give DC all your money"


Your post warrants nothing more than my tagline.

[AmusedBystander]

That's better than most charities. You have to pay your share of the overhead.

So maybe California is getting too much back.

[kellynla]

excuse me but maybe you should read the article again

THE ARTICLE IS ABOUT FEDERAL INCOME TAXES

hellooooooooooooo

[BurbankKarl]

Maybe we should! Oh, forget all those containers landing in Long Beach/LA Harbor and the Bay Area too!

Doom on You!

[kellynla]

while states like NM gets TWO DOLLARS BACK FOR EVERY DOLLAR SENT!

maybe you should worry about FL and let us worry about CA

[AmusedBystander]

while states like NM gets TWO DOLLARS BACK FOR EVERY DOLLAR SENT! maybe you should worry about FL and let us worry about CA

I've been to NM, they deserve the extra just to live there.

[John Jorsett]

Does anyone with a brain actually expect CA to get back 100% of the taxes it sends to DC? There's an enormous bureaucracy sitting there siphoning off a share of everything that comes in. If we want to get 100% of our tax dollars spent in CA, what we should do is demand an end to federal taxation, and crank up our own state taxes to whatever level we deem appropriate. Not that it's going to happen of course ...

[kellynla]

again, WE WANT THE NINE BILLION A YEAR THAT THE FEDS OWE US FOR ALLOWING THE ILLEGALS TO STAY HERE...

it ain't rocket science! LOL

[BobS]

I am going to blow a great big smelly fart. Schwartzy blew 6 Billion on fetal stem cell research which always causes tumers.

[glorgau]

This is what happens when the state votes heavily D when all three branches are R.

[ModelBreaker]

excuse me but maybe you should read the article again THE ARTICLE IS ABOUT FEDERAL INCOME TAXES hellooooooooooooo

Don't be a jerk. I know it's about federal income taxes, which, as I pointed out in my previous post, are progressive.

Here's how it works: Calif is a wealthy state relative to other states on a per person basis. Therefore, Calif will pay more in FEDERAL INCOME TAXES (there, that looks as nice as in your post) per person than other states because it is wealthier per person. So if Calif gets the same number of benefits per person from the Feds as other states do, Calif will be shipping out more money than it gets back.

The whole point of the progressive FEDERAL INCOME TAX is to redistribute income. It will invariably redistribute income from richer states (CA) to poorer states (eg MISS) unless the rich state is getting MORE FEDERAL benefits per person than the poor state. So what the Calif politicians are asking for is for CA to get more federal benefits than Mississippi PER PERSON, even though CA is a richer state.

Since I'm obviously brain dead, I'll give a SIMPLE example that helps me think about the problem--maybe even a wise, incisive reader like you can learn from my simple thoughts. Suppose Mississippi and CA had populations of one person each. CA's resident makes a million dollars a year and pays $300,000 in federal income taxes. Mississippi's makes $10,000 a year and pays no federal income taxes.

Now, if each state gets the same benefits per person, the feds will ship $150,000 to CA and $150,000 to Mississippi (of course, the idea of a redistributive system is that Mississippi should get MORE, not the same). But even if the benefits per person are identical, California pays $150,000 more in taxes than it gets back. To get from here to the real sitution, you just multiply by population and adjust the relative income figures. But it doesn't change the outcome.

Think it through. You will see that I'm correct. It's really just ARITHEMETIC. Duh.

[Anti-MSM]

This is what happens to wealthy states when you have a progressive income tax. They ship more money out than comes back. I thought all those lefty californians were in favor of income redistribution.

I live in CA and agree totally with what you say. Californians consistently vote for federal and state officials that favor "progressive" tax policies and social spending to redistribute money to the poor, then complain when their money gets redistributed to the states with lower per capita income.
 

[kellynla]

"So if Calif gets the same number of benefits per person from the Feds as other states do, Calif will be shipping out more money than it gets back."

it's not about number of benefits per persons...
it's about DOLLARS SENT AND DOLLARS RECEIVED!


"It's really just ARITHEMETIC. Duh"

Yep, it's "arithmetic" all right...
and the Feds owe us
NINE BILLION A YEAR!
for staters...

[knews_hound]

It amazes me to constantly hear how the "Commies" in Caif deserve any and all screwing they recieve.

One needs only to look at a map to understand that once you get away from LA and SF, the rest of the state is VERY conservative.



Keep up the good work Kelly, I'm glad you put that "person" in his place.

It's especially rich concidering he is from Florida, a black hole of Federal money.

We have spent how many Billions and Billions rebuilding the same houses over and over because of Hurricanes?

Yet, they keep on building them again and again.

And we keep paying again, and again and again.

Cheers,

knewshound

Brew Your Own.

[newzjunkey]

Schwartzy blew 6 Billion on fetal stem cell research

The VOTERS of CA chose to issue bonds for stem cell research. That has nothing to do with the increasing burden CA takes on for the rest of the country.