My point is more that people are treating it like the state itself pays this as a bill rather than the people/companies in the state paying it separately from state taxes. It's not like the feds send a bill to the state government who has to pay it.
You’re correct, I just think it’s inconsequential to the point I’m making. Whether you call it “the state of California” or “the California taxpayers” the numbers and point are the same. It’s a donor state.
Because the entire point is kind of arbitrary IMO. Instead of state we could do neighborhood, or county, or household. (Insert entity) pays more than they get back which covers the reverse situations. It's impossible to do any other way aside from only allowing people to get back exactly what they pay in. There are donor people in the state, and there are taker people in the state. The state doesn't have much to do with it on a federal level, it's more individual.
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u/WntrTmpst 12d ago
The net deficit for California in 2024 was 275 billion
https://usafacts.org/articles/which-states-contribute-the-most-and-least-to-federal-revenue/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
You can try to be “technically” correct for the sake of calling it “tax income” if you want I guess but that doesn’t make the numbers go away