4 ms·

Yes, CA has a reputation for poor public schools and for large class sizes. And yes, CA now has the highest, or among the highest both personal income tax and

by ghouse 14y ago

Yes, CA has a reputation for poor public schools and for large class sizes. And yes, CA now has the highest, or among the highest both personal income tax and sale tax. Where does all this money go? Are other states able to do more with less?

druiid 14y ago
A couple places. One is that we do have a large number of social programs that other states do not have. Second, we have the highest population of any state in the nation and that means a huge burden for instruction of students (We have enough people that we're like the 35th largest population in the world or something silly like that... meaning out of entire country populations). Additionally, we pay out more than we get back from the nation-state. I don't have the exact numbers off-hand, but it's something like 75/100 per dollar or maybe even less now.
rprasad 14y ago
All those fantastic public K12 schools in red states are made possible with federal education spending that is made possible by California (and to a lesser extent other blue states like New York and Massachussetts). California receives back less than $1.00 in federal spending for every dollar its citizens pay in taxes, while the smaller states receive back in federal spending significantly more than $1.00 for every dollar their citizens pay in federal taxes. In effect, California's largesse subsidizes the rest of the nation. If California received back in federal spending its fair share of the federal taxes its citizens paid, it would have a multi-billion dollar surplus each year.
- druiid 14y ago
  Yep... I think it's like 75 cents on the dollar (which I wrote a bit earlier). Pobre California.
  - krakensden 14y ago
    Although arguably it's a good thing that we're not setting Missouri on fire until they pay us back the way Germany is treating Greece.
- talmand 14y ago
  First off, I agree with the statement about states like California paying more in Federal taxes than what they receive in Federal moneys back. I'm not sure how I feel about that because it can sometimes be a complicated thing that has issues in how our Federal government spending and taxation works. But, isn't that the system that so many in the "blue" states advocate? Taxing money from those that have it to distribute it to those who do not? Consider that most "red" states don't have the state resources, for various reasons, that the others have. It would seem the citizens of the "blue" states would be proud of such a Federal system that is so similar to what they wish to do within their own system.
- mikeyouse 14y ago
  Here's the 2010 list for that point (From taxfoundation.org): http://imgur.com/3mFWw http://imgur.com/3mFWw California gets back $.78 for every dollar in federal tax that its citizens pay. I was actually surprised that Michigan was on the 'under' side of the list but there were few other surprises.
jacoblyles 14y ago
California is the worst run state in the nation[1] largely due to its politically dominant public sector unions[2][3] and the resulting massive pension deficit[4] that result from the state funding lavish pensions at early ages for its public sector union members. The state's liberal ideology exacerbates the problem - the Republican Party is small and weak, so there is no real political opposition to the one-party state. [1]http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-150415625.html http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-and-worst-run-states-... [2]http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html [3]http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_california-teachers-association.html http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_california-teachers-as... [4]http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08/5-trillion-price-tag-for-public-pensions http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08...

by ghouse 14y ago

druiid 14y ago

A couple places. One is that we do have a large number of social programs that other states do not have. Second, we have the highest population of any state in the nation and that means a huge burden for instruction of students (We have enough people that we're like the 35th largest population in the world or something silly like that... meaning out of entire country populations). Additionally, we pay out more than we get back from the nation-state. I don't have the exact numbers off-hand, but it's something like 75/100 per dollar or maybe even less now.

rprasad 14y ago

All those fantastic public K12 schools in red states are made possible with federal education spending that is made possible by California (and to a lesser extent other blue states like New York and Massachussetts). California receives back less than $1.00 in federal spending for every dollar its citizens pay in taxes, while the smaller states receive back in federal spending significantly more than $1.00 for every dollar their citizens pay in federal taxes. In effect, California's largesse subsidizes the rest of the nation. If California received back in federal spending its fair share of the federal taxes its citizens paid, it would have a multi-billion dollar surplus each year.

druiid 14y ago
Yep... I think it's like 75 cents on the dollar (which I wrote a bit earlier). Pobre California.
- krakensden 14y ago
  Although arguably it's a good thing that we're not setting Missouri on fire until they pay us back the way Germany is treating Greece.
talmand 14y ago
First off, I agree with the statement about states like California paying more in Federal taxes than what they receive in Federal moneys back. I'm not sure how I feel about that because it can sometimes be a complicated thing that has issues in how our Federal government spending and taxation works. But, isn't that the system that so many in the "blue" states advocate? Taxing money from those that have it to distribute it to those who do not? Consider that most "red" states don't have the state resources, for various reasons, that the others have. It would seem the citizens of the "blue" states would be proud of such a Federal system that is so similar to what they wish to do within their own system.
mikeyouse 14y ago
Here's the 2010 list for that point (From taxfoundation.org): http://imgur.com/3mFWw http://imgur.com/3mFWw California gets back $.78 for every dollar in federal tax that its citizens pay. I was actually surprised that Michigan was on the 'under' side of the list but there were few other surprises.

jacoblyles 14y ago

California is the worst run state in the nation[1] largely due to its politically dominant public sector unions[2][3] and the resulting massive pension deficit[4] that result from the state funding lavish pensions at early ages for its public sector union members. The state's liberal ideology exacerbates the problem - the Republican Party is small and weak, so there is no real political opposition to the one-party state. [1]http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-150415625.html http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-and-worst-run-states-... [2]http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_california-unions.html [3]http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_california-teachers-association.html http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_california-teachers-as... [4]http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08/5-trillion-price-tag-for-public-pensions http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08...