Had heard this....never quite sure if I believed it or not. After your post I googled the subject....and sure enough, Texas ranks 36th, in terms of the ratio between tax dollars sent to DC and Federal money returned. SC ranked 16th.
Interestingly.....CA and NY both ranked lower than TX, at 42nd and 43rd. New Jersey received the lowest amount of federal money received as a rato to money sent.
I think this analysis in incomplete however, as it fails to take into account total federal spending. For example, Texas in second (only to CA) in terms of number of miitary personnel stationed within its borders. Texas has about 200,000 military stationed there. If you make an assumption that each military person generates $1000 per year in terms of paid property taxes.....they generate about $200m in property taxes. Additionally, if each person spent roughly $10,000 on items subject to sales taxes(at say 7% tax), you generate $2b in purchases and about $140m in additional tax revenue.
Also, Texas is one of the top states in the country for federal contracting. IT, military hardware, aerospace, etc....all creating high paying jobs and driving tax revenue, that without federal spending, simply wouldn't exist.
I agree that the Texas economy is amazing and thriving. Would love to see how SC would react to that model being implemented here. We are fertile territory for tea partiers, yet we remain a high tax state with a highly centralized state government. Unfortunately, its usually easier to demand change of others than it is to demand change from oneself.
Last edited by Big Daddy; 07/04/11 04:30 PM.
