True. Not only do they suck federal tax dollars, but do so in an increasing degree while their bitching about "the gummint" increases. Here are the figures. The table below shows the ratio of federal spending to federal taxes by state, between 1994 and 2003. The figures by year can be found at http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxingspending.html. To simplify that table, I calculated 10-year averages for each state, and the 1994-2003 change. Numbers greater than 1 indicate more federal spending than federal taxes collected in a state. Numbers smaller than 1 indicate more federal taxes collected than federal spending in a state. The positive numbers in the second column indicate growth in federal expenditure/revenue disparity over the period of 10 years. The negative numbers (in parentheses) indicate closing the expenditure/taxes gap.
In short, the South not only lives off the federal dole from the North, but also bitterly complaints about that. What a bunch of ungrateful hicks! It is high time these federal welfare kings start supporting their spending habits, perhaps by cashing in their moral values which seem to be in abundant supply in the Jesusland.
Just imagine how much better off the North would be today if they dumped the backward South in 1861.
Wojtek
Federal Expenditures per Taxes, by state 1994 - 2003 State State average 1994-2003 change District of Columbia 5.48 1.20 New Mexico 1.91 0.11 Mississippi 1.67 0.22 North Dakota 1.66 0.21 West Virginia 1.65 0.33 Montana 1.56 0.17 Alaska 1.48 0.59 Alabama 1.45 0.35 Virginia 1.45 0.18 Hawaii 1.43 0.29 South Dakota 1.40 0.18 Oklahoma 1.38 0.20 Louisiana 1.37 0.12 Kentucky 1.35 0.32 Arkansas 1.35 0.23 Maine 1.31 0.01 Missouri 1.29 (0.03) Maryland 1.28 0.07 South Carolina 1.26 0.13 Idaho 1.21 0.20 Tennessee 1.16 0.21 Arizona 1.14 0.12 Iowa 1.12 (0.04) Rhode Island 1.11 (0.05) Kansas 1.09 0.06 Nebraska 1.08 0.00 Utah 1.08 0.13 Wyoming 1.06 0.10 Pennsylvania 1.06 0.07 Vermont 1.06 0.19 Florida 1.05 (0.06) North Carolina 1.02 0.16 Ohio 0.99 0.08 Georgia 0.98 (0.04) Oregon 0.97 0.05 Texas 0.94 0.04 Indiana 0.93 0.14 Washington 0.92 (0.04) Colorado 0.89 (0.20) California 0.88 (0.20) Massachusetts 0.86 (0.19) Wisconsin 0.85 0.02 New York 0.85 (0.05) Delaware 0.85 0.03 Michigan 0.84 0.07 Minnesota 0.79 (0.09) Illinois 0.77 (0.01) Nevada 0.74 (0.01) New Hampshire 0.72 (0.09) New Jersey 0.67 (0.12) Connecticut 0.67 (0.02)
Source: Census Bureau; Tax Foundation's "State-by-State Tax Burden Allocation http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxingspending.html