Can California retain federal tax dollars in response to Trump?

From LevagsCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Governor Gavin Newsom suggested last week that California could refuse taxes it pays to the United States if President Donald Trump reduced the federal financing of the state.

May be another front in the escalating battle Between the Trump Administration and the Golden State, who are currently fighting for the president summons to handle Protests against the raids of immigration in Los Angeles. But how would everything that would work – on both sides – is someone’s assumption.

Calmatters asked several tax experts to judge how the state could refuse the federal government. Most would not comment on what they called “unclear” threat from civil servants. But they pointed out that residents and businesses pay directly to state and federal governments when they file their income taxes – which makes it unclear what tax money they can withdraw.

Newsom does not imply people to stop paying their taxes, said Tara Galegos, a governor spokesman. But she said the state was considering “whether there are potential options that would allow it to preserve some of the funding that the Federal Government usually sends.”

She would not provide additional details and did not answer Calmatters’ question about which of his employees the governor directed to explore these opportunities.

The largest sources of revenue in California are income tax, income tax and sales tax, the last of which goes to local and government governments. The state does not process other excise duties, such as those from airports, transport and others that the federal government receives, according to the financial department.

Newsom on Friday also sailed In social media The idea that California is a “donor” country and contributes to tens of billions of dollars more a year to the United States than it returns, something that Gallegos has repeated for Calmatters.

A exploration Rockefeller’s government found that in the 2021-22 fiscal year, California provides about $ 83 billion more to the federal government than he received, almost three times more than the next country, New Jersey, which provided about $ 29 billion more than he received from the United States

In addition, taxpayers in California contribute more than all countries for the general federal taxes, according to IRS data, cited by the State Financial Department. In the fiscal 2023-24 year, the total federal taxes in California were $ 806 billion, twice more than Texas, which contributed to $ 417 billion and more than twice $ 384 billion in New York contributed.

Robert Rivas State Assembly speaker too Posted in social media Last week, California should look at “every option”, including tax retention, saying that “we are the economic driver of the nation and the largest Donor country, and deserve our fair share.” Rivas, Democrat from Salinas, was not available to answer questions, his employees said.

Some people challenge the concept of Donor countries.

“The governor’s long -standing complaint that California is a donor country is ringing hollows,” says Jared Walchak, Vice President of State Projects for the Tax Foundation, Brain Trust based in Washington, DC. “Unless California politicians question the legitimacy of Medicare, Medicaid and social security, the complaint that California residents pay more in federal taxes than they return is impossible.”

“The courts made it clear that you could not be conscientiously subject to tax payment,” Walchak said.

The courts also made it difficult to cancel the White House funding.

White House spokesman Harrison Fields has confirmed in an email to CalMatters this week that the Trump administration is reviewing possible wide -ranging cuts in California, as reported last week by various media such as Cnn and Washington PostS But Fields said that no decision was made and did not specify which programs were considered protection. In the same email, Fields said the answers were in the background or outside the record with which he and Calfatters did not agree in advance.

HD Palmer, a spokesman for the California Financial Department, pointed the Trump Administration’s attempt to Freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans, through a management service and a budget note, which then canceled at the end of January after public protests and court orders.

“A remarkable point in our civilian high school lessons: the power of the bag does not hide in the (presidential) administration,” Palmer said.

Palmer provided a list of state programs that receive the most federal funding that the state relies on in its current budget. The list includes money for health, education, planning and construction of highways, recovery in disasters, grants for the program to support extra diet and more. The biggest is $ 100.9 billion for medical care programs.

He said the White House has not yet provided specifics or will answer the following question: “What benefit from public policy are you looking for by keeping these federal dollars from California?”

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.