Friday, March 24, 2006

Welfare States


Via Carpetbagger, the fiscal year 2004 federal tax burden report from the Tax Foundation is out. The map (click on it to see a larger image) shows how much federal money a state gets for each dollar it sends to Washington.

Next time Ted "baby made a boom boom" Stevens whines about not getting enough money for his various pet projects, I'm going to send him this map and tell him to cram it with walnuts, ugly.

(Yes, this post's main purpose is to push that Millie Jackson album cover down the page. Great googa mooga, Otto Man, the humanity!)

6 comments:

teh l4m3 said...

But, but, but... California's one of those Marxist nanny states! How can this be?

Pooh said...

The Alaskan says:

Hey, look, a New Mexican Jackalope!

Mrs_Thrillhous said...

DC gets $6.64 for every dollar sent and it's still got awful schools and third-world health statistics?

In defense of VA, there's a lot of Dept. of Defense, like the Pentagon and Norfolk, and that benefits everyone. If only there were wide and empty roads like in WV and AK!

Pooh said...

If only there were wide and empty roads like in . . . AK!

You mean aside from the moose and the potholes, right?

Otto Man said...

DC gets $6.64 for every dollar sent and it's still got awful schools and third-world health statistics?

In defense of VA, there's a lot of Dept. of Defense, like the Pentagon and Norfolk, and that benefits everyone.


I think your second point actually explains the first. If Va's expenditure rate can be explained by the Pentagon, then D.C.'s is explained by every single government agency, federal office building, tourist attraction, and the like located within its boundaries.

Of course, that also accounts for some -- by no means most -- of the money in rural areas, where military bases are located. But most of their cash grubbing comes from extended infrastructure spending (as in AK) and federal farm subsidies, the biggest form of welfare around.

Thrillhous said...

Ditto what Otto said. I don't have a problem at all w/ more money going to one state over the other, as what it's going to is often something important, like military bases (whose locations are often determined by - wait for it - politicians!).

But politicians from states that get more than what they send in should quit their yapping about all their money being wasted by Washington, cuz they're the ones that the majority of that money is being "wasted" on.