The new line from money-starved California? They’re owed:
California ranks 43rd in the country among states in the amount of tax dollars paid to the federal government versus the amount of federal aid that comes back to the state, according to the Washington-based Tax Foundation. The state gets 78 cents for every dollar sent to the federal government.
Here’s how it works: Blue states, which happen to be richer, elect liberal Democrats to Congress, who vote for redistributive programs that incidentally transfer cash to red states, which happen to be poorer. Red-state Democrats, if they’re smart, can sometimes extract even greater benefits for their states as the price of their votes. There’s a reason we’re talking about the Cornhusker Kickback and not the Golden State Graft.