The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Since the incoming Trump administration has decided to allow Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to suggest cuts to the federal budget, it would be only fair if the policies undertaken would spare the states that are “donor” states to the federal budget. In other words, the states that send to Washington more than what they receive. Here’s the 2019 list (pre-pandemic per the World Population Review):
New York: $22,798,000,000, Voted for Harris in 2024, 28 electoral college votes
New Jersey: $10,334,000,000, Harris in 2024, 14 votes
Massachusetts: 9,919,000,000, Harris in 2024, 11 votes
California: $6,653,000,000, Harris in 2024, 54 votes
Connecticut: $5,754,000,000, Harris in 2024, 7 votes
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Minnesota: $1,896,000,000, Harris in 2024, 10 votes
Colorado: $1,374,000,000, Harris in 2024, 10 votes
Utah: $416,000,000, Trump in 2024, 6 votes
(Pre-pandemic numbers are used as the domestic help in reviving the United States economy, and hence the world’s economy, have even now skewered the usual numbers. Larger states such as California and New York, because of their population, received more of the dollars per taxpayers in pandemic relief.)
That’s $58,728,000,000 in surplus in 2019 to the federal government and all Democratic-leaning states that voted for Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024 or, in 2024, 134 electoral college votes. Utah is the only state in the top 8 donor states to vote for Trump.
Now for the debtor states, ones that received more than they paid to the federal government:
Virginia: $111,785,000,000, Harris in 2024, 13 votes
Kentucky: $63,229,000,000, Trump in 2024, 8 votes
Florida: $50,999,000,000, Trump in 2024, 30 votes
Maryland: $49,942,000,000, Harris in 2024, 10 votes
Ohio: $42,004,000,000, Trump in 2024, 17 votes
Pennsylvania: $41,516,000,000, Trump in 2024, 19 votes
North Carolina: $35,437,000,000, Trump in 2024, 16 votes
Alabama: $33,033,000,000, Trump in 2024, 9 votes
Arizona: $30,907,000,000, Trump in 2024, 11 votes
South Carolina: $29,209,000,000, Trump in 2024, 9 votes.
(Note that Virginia and Maryland are located near Washington D.C. and the lobbyists and others making money from representing the interests of all the United States need to be near the center of power.)
The Harris-voting states had $161,727,000,000 in debt to the federal government and 23 electoral college votes. The Trump-voting states had $326,334,000,000 in debt to the federal government and 119 votes.
It would seem that the biggest drags upon the United States productivity and national debt are the red states that voted for Trump, and the most efficient states are the blue ones that voted for Harris.
In the review, which is still had numbers affected by COVID relief programs, here are the top ten receiving states per dollar sent in 2022:
New Mexico $3.96, Harris, 5 electoral college votes
West Virginia, $3.09, Trump, 4
Mississippi, $2.60, Trump, 6
Alaska, $2.41, Trump, 3
Kentucky, $1.89, Trump, 8
Hawaii, $1.83, Harris, 4
Alabama, $1.80, Trump, 9
Maine, $1.72, Harris, 4
Arizona, $1.71, Trump, 11
South Carolina, $1.71, Trump, 9
Of these ten least efficient states, Harris had 13 electoral college votes, and Trump had 50.
It is incumbent that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attack federal funding for states like Kentucky, Alabama and Arizona and leave alone California, New York and other states listed that contribute more to the federal government than they receive. Otherwise, voters can only conclude that Elon and Vivek are in the DOGE to protect their contracts and contacts with the powerbrokers in Washington DC, the “swamp,” and “dodge” any budget-cutting repercussions.
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Matt Somers is a graduate of the University of Arizona who once took the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget “Exercises in Hard Choices” test 30 years ago when presented by Jim Kolbe.
