Newsom floats withholding federal taxes as Trump threatens California

politico.com ^ | 06/06/2025 | Tyler Katzenberger

[ransomnote]

• SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday suggested California consider withholding tens of billions in annual federal tax dollars amid reports Donald Trump is preparing funding cuts targeting the state.

  Newsom’s suggestion came after CNN reported the president was considering a “full termination” of federal grant funding for California’s universities.

  “Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back,” the Democratic governor said in an X post Friday afternoon, referencing a recent analysis from the Rockefeller Institute that California contributed about $83 billion more in federal taxes in 2022 than it received back from Washington.

  “Maybe it’s time to cut that off,” he added.

  White House spokesperson Kush Desai, asked to comment on Newsom’s post, threw cold water on mass funding cuts but blasted California for what he said were “lunatic anti-energy, soft-on-crime, pro-child mutilation, and pro-sanctuary policies.”

  “The Trump administration is committed to ending this nightmare and restoring the California Dream,” Desai said in a statement. “No final decisions, however, on any potential future action by the Administration have been made, and any discussion suggesting otherwise should be considered pure speculation.”

 

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: arrestnewsom; commiepinkos; fafo; gavinnewsom; greasygavin; insurrectionist; misappropriation; pelosicrimefamily; seditionist

[CondoleezzaProtege]

🤢

[NoLibZone]

Close all military bases in California

[GaryCrow]

I’d like to know how he proposes to do that considering the taxes are paid directly to the federal government, the California state government doesn’t have access to them.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Sounds like Session to me. Well the state flag says California Republic on it.

[convoter2016]

Is Gavin Newsom ignorant? Employers withhold money from employee paychecks and send them to the federal government for federal income taxes and to the state for state income taxes. The state doesn’t get a hold of the money sent for federal income taxes. This is an empty boast by Gavin Newsom.

[mass55th]

Federal withholding tax works on paychecks as follows:

Employee fills out W4 form.
Employer calculates withholding amount based on employee's W4.
Employer withholds taxes from employee's paycheck based on calculations.
Employer sends withheld taxes to the IRS.
Employee files tax return to report total income, deductions, credits, and the amount of federal income tax withheld.

Does he plan on ordering all employers in the State to turn over the Federal Withholding taxes to him and not the Federal Government? Good luck with that.

The guy's an idiot.

[convoter2016]

I now believe Gavin Newsom is referring to California government employees whose employer, a California government entity, withholds the money that is suppose to be sent to the federal income to pay for federal income taxes.

[toddausauras]

An actual Civil War could happen in Trump’s second term.

[No name given]

Pronto.

[napscoordinator]

That does seem unfair. Why 80 billion and then they don’t get it all back?

California has the same problem America has with tariffs.

What about this nugget:
In fiscal year 2022, Mississippi paid approximately $5.148 billion in federal taxes per person. However, the state also received about $12.3 billion in federal funds, with roughly half of the state’s revenue coming from federal sources. This means Mississippi receives more federal funds than it sends in taxes.

[napscoordinator]

Oh my goodness. What about gas taxes, and other fees that put their total to 80 billion.

[willk]

What if we just let California become its own country? All the homeless, illegals and leftists would flock there. You can say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one.

[Omnivore-Dan]

Gov. Nuisance is full of crap. The state is billions in debt, and each year the feds bail Califecal out. Probably should give the state back to Mexico since there are more Mexicans living there than any other nationality anyway. Let the state go to hell. It’s a damn shame, a state I used to want to visit, I wouldn’t step one foot in that dump now.

[tired&retired]

What a freaking idiot!

These taxes are paid directly to the Federal Government and do not pass through the state’s accounts.

If the state stops paying their taxes, those individuals who are responsible for paying have a fiduciary responsibility for transferring Trust Funds that do not belong to them and thus, they can be prosecuted individually.

This is true, even though they are only acting as an agent for the state of California.

[frank ballenger]

Newsom against the revenuers.

Anti-tax song Copper Kettle by Alfred Frank Beddoe, sung by Bob Dylan (1970). Joan Baez concert version intro: “This is a song dedicated to the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Service. The Eternal Revenue Service. Anyway, they come and take your money away.” (1965)

Build you a fire with hickory
Hickory, ash and oak
Don’t use no green or rotten wood
They’ll get you by the smoke

...
My daddy he made whiskey
My granddaddy he did too
We ain’t paid no whiskey tax
Since 1792.

We’ll just lay there by the juniper
While the moon is bright
Watch them jugs a-filling
In the pale moonlight
In the pale moonlight.
////////////////////////////
Background:
“Copper Kettle” captures an idyllic backwoods existence, where moonshine is equated not only with pleasure but with tax resistance. Appalachian farmers who struggled to make their living off the land would routinely siphon off a percentage of their corn in order to distill whiskey. Everything produced would then be hidden from the government in order to avoid the whiskey tax of 1791.” Wikipedia.

[roving]

I hope he does withhold federal taxes. Federal tax evasion is pretty much a guaranteed federal prison sentence.

[Brian Griffin]

“I wouldn’t step one foot in that dump now.”

The decay is clearly evident in the commercial sections of LA.

The ‘Miracle Mile’ is in sad shape.

East 6th and 7th have more tents than any state park campground.

The major streets of downtown such as Broadway are not campgrounds.

[frank ballenger]

Tax money that can’t be grabbed is extremely irritating to the politicians and could trigger the war you mention.

[Brian Griffin]

I stayed in Monterey Park, a mainly Chinese enclave east of LA.

It is a fairly properous community with some interesting restaurants. I wish I had more than four molars and knew Chinese characters.