Rich State, Poor State

[SoCalDem]

Texas & Alaska love to brag about THEIR oil..and THEIR lack of state taxation. Florida brags about their lack of taxation.

Texas & Alaska seem to want to "opt out" of even federal taxation.

Their spokespeople routinely bluster about how rich they are, and how much they contribute vs how much they receive...

but.......


What are they doing with all that money? Why do they not have an emergency fund? Why are their schools still funded mostly by property taxes?

They sure seem to have a LOT of poor people, and the states seem to be in great need a lot of the time.. ... need for infrastructure repair, for education, for health care, for disaster repair..


Like a marriage, a UNION of states (aka United States of America) implies that we are all there for each other, and that we help the states that need it, even if it means that money gets sent from some states, in quantities larger than what they receive from government.

DC is a clearinghouse, where needs get "measured", and funds get appropriated according to the needs.

A "real" marriage, where the biggest paycheck earner brags about all the money THEY make, and who refuses to share, will not work very well..

[ananda]

1. Texas has a high sales and property tax rate and other fees.

We are very highly taxed and fee'd in Texas.

[SoCalDem]

2. Exactly.. They trumpet part of the story

but seem to "forget" how taxed SOME of their people are...instead of a broad tax that everyone pays

[AllieB]

3. Florida has no income tax, but taxes just about everything else.

The sales tax is pretty high, and despite supposedly having a lower cost of living, the food and gas prices are much higher than in the Northeast. There is a lot of abject poverty in FL. It was very surprising.

[SoCalDem]

5. Out here our income tax went up, auto registration is up

and our sales tax went from 7,75% to 9.5 %....eeeek!

fines for driving infractions are waaaay up.. (hope I never get a ticket)

[Thothmes]

6. Virginia has an income tax

and taxes just about everything else. What else is new.

[OHdem10]

4. Where do they stand :: Education---near the very bottom

high Poverty rate.

This is exactly what this philosophy gets you. GWB tried to
bring it to the whole country.