<p>Earlier in the thread the discussion involved low tax states. I think you would be very surprised how much federal money makes up their state budgets. They are low tax because someone else pays a higher share of their bills.</p>
<p>Very true, tom. The low-tax states get a lot more than they give. I’d love to see whether they also drain more in the way of social services for people who can’t make a living wage because of right-to-work laws or the absence of decent-paying jobs.</p>
<p>there is far more diversity in the southern states than in the northeast, by a lot. If you look up the census data for state by state diversity, you will find that the northeast is by far the least diverse and most white area in the country.</p>
<p>Many of the right to work states have the highest number of minorities, actually.</p>
<p>Also, in the south, the integration of neighborhoods is much more fully complete. In the northeast, there is a lot of diversity talk in Connecticut and Massachusetts. But, the diversity of population isn’t there, not by comparison with any other part of the country.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_common_race.html[/url]”>http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_common_race.html</a></p>
<p>New york and California may be subsidizing lots of other states. Florida and Texas are not part of them.</p>
<p>[Federal</a> Taxes paid/received for each State — Visualizing Economics](<a href=“http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2010/02/17/federal-taxes-paidreceived-for-each-state]Federal”>http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2010/02/17/federal-taxes-paidreceived-for-each-state)</p>
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<p>Then, why is California building the high-speed rail network from Sacramento through the Central Valley(low population density) to LA? Jerry Brown tied this proposal to extra funding of public education. No rail passage, no funding for education.</p>
<p>Poetgirl - I heard recently our state will be hispanic majority state in 2016.</p>
<p>texaspg- 40% of the revenue in the Texas state budget is federal aid.</p>
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<p>Yes, you can see that possibility emerging in the map I linked. I assume that’s why Jeb’s son is considering running for governor since he is hispanic.</p>
<p>“40% of the revenue in the Texas state budget is federal aid”</p>
<p>As the chart I provided shows, it is taxes we paid.</p>
<p>I prefer to believe it is taxes NJ paid. Federal aid only makes up 28% of our state budget</p>
<p>Believe what you will until you can provide evidence proving otherwise. </p>
<p>The link I provided clearly shows Texas is subsidizing others by 6% of our taxes to the Federal Government.</p>
<p>Yep, and I think this is why federal income tax is going up on those who make 400,000 per year and not the 200,000 originally sought. </p>
<p>Incomes are higher in the high COL areas, and taxes are higher, as a result.</p>
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<a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/fas-10.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/fas-10.pdf</a>
Figure 5</p>
<p>Sorry, I’m not buying it.</p>
<p>I used a site called sunshine review.org which lets you look at each state budget and breaks out how much is federal aid and how much is from state sources.</p>
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I want you to do some homework for me on this one: pull up a topographical map of the state of California. Take a look at the state’s fundamental geography.</p>
<p>You’ll notice that basically the entire coastal region, with the exception of a few valleys and bays, is one continuous range of steep, rugged mountains and cliffs stretching from Los Angeles to the Oregon border.</p>
<p>Now observe the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, also known as the Central Valley - a former seafloor and one of the flattest places on Earth, stretching 450 miles from Redding to Bakersfield.</p>
<p>Then I want you to think about railroad engineering, design and construction. Which is easier to build a railroad line through: steep, rugged mountains or dead-flat valleys? Where do trains use more energy?</p>
<p>So, taking into consideration these questions, which routing between the Bay Area and Los Angeles do you think would be faster and cheaper to build, more efficient to operate and require less maintenance over the long term?</p>
<p>I think Zoosermom is channeling Yogi Berra about California: “Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”</p>
<p>Seriously - you don’t the disconnect between the claim that everybody is fleeing California and the fact that we have sky-high housing costs because there’s so much demand for it?</p>
<p>And
Uh, this is basically an engineering issue, not a political issue. The primary north-south highways(Highways 5 and 99) also go through the Central Valley (it’s flat) instead of alone the coast (which is anything but.) It’s just the easiest and cheapest route. Also, call us crazy, but we typically build our major public works in low population density areas instead of tearing down the maximum possible number of homes and businesses. Maybe that’s just a left coast thing…</p>
<p>(Oops. Polarsribe beat me to it.)</p>
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The website isn’t working right now…but what does that data actually tell you? If states are low-tax “because someone else pays a higher share of their bills,” then what we want to look at is the amount by which taxes would need to be raised in order to maintain current spending if federal aid were eliminated. You’ll find that information in Figures 5 and 7 of the Census report I referenced.</p>
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<p>Every study or report that I’ve seen indicates that the low tax state of NH is a net donor state to the Federal Government. Of course NH could hoodwink the Federal Government to pay for something comparable to the Big Dig, right?</p>
<p>How about the lowest tax state, Alaska? Do they get a ton of money from the Federal Government to take care of their state budgets?</p>
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<p>That’s one side of the coin. What does Texas contribute in Federal Government funding? How about all of the oil production and refining? There are Federal taxes on that stuff that gets exported to other states. They produce a million barrels per day.</p>
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<p>Interesting. NH gets less per person in Federal aid than MA does. MA gets a really out-of-proportion amount of NIH funding and has a very healthy defense contractor industry. Maybe it goes there.</p>
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<p>You crashed their servers!</p>
<p>So where does NH sit? Alaska?</p>
<p>Are there high-tax states that get a ton of Federal money too?</p>
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<p>Can they beat $118 round trip? That’s the price I found on Expedia for SFO to LAX.</p>
<p>Amtrak Boston to NYC Round Trip is $71 but it’s $178 if you want high-speed rail (Acela). Boston to NYC is about half the distance of SFO to LAX.</p>
<p>You can’t completely go by those numbers, though. For example, Wyoming gets a lot of money, or it acts like it is going to Wyoming, but a lot of that is actually going to the upkeep of the national parks in the state. It’s a national park. People in Wyoming can’t live there and have very little say over how it is handled. The same can be said for Alaska.</p>
<p>There are other things, too. But, its not dollar to dollar like that.</p>
<p>"Amtrak Boston to NYC Round Trip is $71 but it’s $178 if you want high-speed rail (Acela). Boston to NYC is about half the distance of SFO to LAX. '</p>
<p>If you try for profit entities, the bus goes from Boston to NYC for 20 bucks! I sent my Kid from MIT to Columbia last April based on a parent’s advice on CC.</p>