With New Mexico joining the Red column, and New Hampshire the Blue, the returns from the 2004 election continue the tradition of Democratic states being net donors to the federal government, while Republican states continue are net donees. These ten states get the most back for every dollar they send to Washington as taxes. Republican states are in bold. DC is the only Democratic state, but isn’t it understandable that the seat of the federal government would see a large amount of federal spending? New Mexico is the only state in this list that even qualifies as purple.

1. D.C. ($6.17)
2. North Dakota ($2.03)
3. New Mexico ($1.89)
4. Mississippi ($1.84)
5. Alaska ($1.82)
6. West Virginia ($1.74)
7. Montana ($1.64)
8. Alabama ($1.61)
9. South Dakota ($1.59)
10. Arkansas ($1.53)

These are the ten states that get the least back from Washington.

1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68) (welcome to the club!)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)

If you count the tax/spending differentials for all the states, Republican states are still, by and large, feeding at the federal trough.

All that heartland talk about self reliance is a bunch of baloney.

- posted by jsbennett70 @ 4:10 AM