It is a fact that no state sends more tax dollars to Washington than California. No one will deny that the state is an economic powerhouse. But public policy has consequences and if the harm that’s being done in Sacramento, county board rooms and city halls continues, it will eventually render both of those statements untrue.
California brags about its donor state status, that is, it forwards more in tax dollars to Washington than it gets back in federal spending. But that’s changed.
According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, California’s balance of payments with the federal government – the net difference between federal revenue collected from the state and the entirety of federal spending within that state – is negative. Three times between 2015 and 2023, California took in more than it sent to the federal government when emergency COVID spending is included.
This isn’t the story being told by official Sacramento, though.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Checking the fine print on Newsom’s “donor state” boast
Kerry Jackson
It is a fact that no state sends more tax dollars to Washington than California. No one will deny that the state is an economic powerhouse. But public policy has consequences and if the harm that’s being done in Sacramento, county board rooms and city halls continues, it will eventually render both of those statements untrue.
California brags about its donor state status, that is, it forwards more in tax dollars to Washington than it gets back in federal spending. But that’s changed.
According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, California’s balance of payments with the federal government – the net difference between federal revenue collected from the state and the entirety of federal spending within that state – is negative. Three times between 2015 and 2023, California took in more than it sent to the federal government when emergency COVID spending is included.
This isn’t the story being told by official Sacramento, though.
Read more here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.