Tax Fairness Act of 2005

The next Congress' Democrats need to make this a big issue. In an earlier post, I mentioned in passing that the blue states subsidize a majority of the red states. In other words, states like New York and California receive fewer federal dollars than they pay to Washington. On the other hand, most of the red states are net recipients of at least 110% of the money they send to Washington. How so? How is it that the gun-lovin', tax-hatin', gay-stoppin' red states are net recipients of ... well, welfare? It's time to stop this. If the red states want to reshape America into a red-white-and-blue caricature of its former self, that's fine, but I don't see why we should subsidize it. Buffalo is already sending many of its people to North Carolina and Florida - is it fair that we send our money there, too? Is it fair that an economically depressed region like upstate New York subsidizes the booming sun/Bible belt? I don't think so, either. These red states are sucking at the blue states' collective teat. The full list is available here. Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Idaho Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Montana North Dakota Oklahoma South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Utah Virginia West Virginia Wyoming Idea courtesy of Atrios.