Republican Wealth Redistribution
Republicans claim that they are against “socialism” or the re-distribution of wealth, yet if you look at the FACTS, States which vote for Democrats pay MORE to the Federal Government in taxes and receive LESS back FROM the Federal Government in benefits, while States which vote for Republicans pay LESS to the Federal Government in taxes and receive MORE FROM the Federal Government in benefits.
So, Republican states are the ones which are actually redistributing the wealth for THEIR benefit, while stealing from Democratic states. So much for Republicans being against the socialist re-distribution of wealth.
How have they been able to accomplish this? Well, for the past 30 years, Republicans have been in control of Congress and the White House for more of the time than Democrats.
For the past three decades, the census and the laying out of new boundaries for determining what Legislative District you belong in, has been controlled by REPUBLICANS, and so they have managed to gerry-mander districts so that they are virtually guaranteed re-election, because they stacked the distribution of voters in those districts to favor their party.
If you rank the states in order of the amount of benefit they receive per dollar paid towards Federal taxes, Democratic States lump towards the bottom of the benefit pile, while Republican States lump towards the top of the feeding trough pile.
Using 1 as the lowest ranking recipient (getting the least from their dollar) in percentage of their dollars back, out of dollars paid to the Federal Government, and 50 as the highest ranking recipient (getting the most for their dollar) or more than the dollar they paid towards Federal Taxes in the first place, Republican States clearly get more benefits than Democratic States do.
While Rand Paul is claiming that Kentuckians aren’t getting their share of Federal tax dollars back, he is ignoring the truth. Kentuckians get $1.50 back for every $1.00 they pay in taxes, and this has been going on for decades. They have been heavily subsidized by states which are paying more than their fair share and getting much less in return.
1. New Jersey
2. Nevada
3. Connecticut
4. New Hampshire
5. Minnesota
6. Illinois
7. Delaware
8. California
9. New York
10. Colorado
11. Massachusetts
12. Wisconsin
13. Washington
14. Michigan
15. Oregon
16. Texas
17. Florida
18. Rhode Island
19. Georgia
20. Ohio
21. Indiana
22. Utah
23. Pennsylvania
24. North Carolina
25. Vermont
26. Nebraska
27. Iowa
28. Wyoming
29. Kansas
30. Arizona
31. Idaho
32. Tennessee
33. Maryland
34. Missouri
35. South Carolina
36. Oklahoma
37. Arizona
38. Michigan
39. Hawaii
40. Montana
41. Virginia
42. Kentucky
43. South Dakota
44. Alabama
45. North Dakota
46. West Virginia
47. Louisiana
48. Alaska
49. Mississippi
50. New Mexico
Clearly, the Red States are, for the most part, collecting far more than the Blue States are, in benefits from the Federal Tax dollars they pay.
Republicans like to claim that Wisconsin is one of the highest taxed states in the country, and while that isn’t accurate, over the last 30 years, Wisconsin has only averaged about 81 cents back for every dollar paid in Federal Taxes. 19% of everything, that everyone in the state paid over the last 30 years never came back to the state, but rather went to another state. That statistic is even worse in the 5th Congressional District where F. James Sensenbrenner has been the Republican Congressman representing the District for almost four decades. In the 5th CD, we average about 76 cents back for every dollar spent towards federal taxes. How can that be when Republicans are supposedly such penny pinchers and supposedly so good at getting our money’s worth, and Sensenbrenner has repeatedly “won” so many awards for his “fiscal conservatism”?
The fact is that when Republicans don’t allow the money that DEMOCRATS PAID IN TAXES to be brought back to the state which paid them, but instead diverted them to REPUBLICAN STATES, they keep the Republican States on the dole. They are PAYING REPUBLICANS to KEEP VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS, from MONEY THEY STOLE FROM DEMOCRATS.
You may ask, “Why would they do that?” The answer is actually very simple and very much in line with their campaign strategy for the Republican Party nationwide. By over taxing Democratic voters in predominantly Democratic states, they get those Democratic voters upset about the high taxes, so they will fall for the Republican cons that claim that they are fighting to lower your taxes, and have a stronger tendency to vote for Republicans, IF THEY DON’T BOTHER TO LEARN THE FACTS.
Oh, and by the way, if people want to point out the fact that the 5th CD is largely a Republican District, and isn’t getting its moneys worth, you certainly can’t blame Democrats, because Sensenbrenner has been running the show here for the last four decades.
And if Republicans in the 5th CD still want to complain that their taxes are too high, let me explain a little ECONOMICS 101 to them. When you don’t get as many of your Federal Tax dollars BACK as you PAID OUT, but your OVERHEAD for services and infrastructure stays the same or increases in cost, you STILL have to pay for them, and THAT is why State and Local Governments have to raise fees or taxes to cover those expenses. It is because YOUR Representative Sensenbrenner, didn’t fight to bring YOUR TAX DOLLARS BACK INTO YOUR DISTRICT.
Retiring Democratic Congressman Dave Obey first won his seat in his northern district in 1969, in a special election when Republican Congressman Melvin Laird, who had held that seat, was appointed by President Nixon as his Secretary of Defense. While the Democratic/Republican demographics of his district are fairly even, and the positions of his constituents often lean to the right, he has still managed to maintain a lock on his district since 1969, until he announced his decision to retire. He is greatly admired by most in his district because of the work he has done to bring financial resources back to his district, and the work he has done for education and healthcare.
Republicans have set their goals of winning his seat with their candidate, Sean Duffy, a former MTV reality show “star”.
And, while Republicans are attacking Governor Doyle for raising taxes, the truth is that taxes in Wisconsin are the lowest they’ve ever been, for the last six years under Democrats out of the last 50 years, during which time REPUBLICANS were in majority power for most of the time!
In addition, prior to Republicans taking control of the Wisconsin State Legislature and the office of Governor (for 16 straight years), about 12% of the total tax revenues collected by the state of Wisconsin, came from corporate income taxes. When Republicans were in charge, they slashed corporate income taxes, but still had to pay for services and infrastructure overhead, SO THEY INCREASED YOUR PROPERTY TAXES. During Republican rule Corporate share of the total tax revenues was about 3-5% of the total! Governor Doyle has been trying to keep Property taxes down and take the load off of average citizens, so he raised the CORPORATE Taxes to collect about 7-8% of the total revenues from CORPORATIONS. That is what Republicans are leaving out of their advertising when they attack Governor Doyle for “raising taxes”, by $300 Million statewide.
And by the way, County Executive Scott Walker who is running for Governor of Wisconsin, on a “lower Corporate Taxes” platform, raised taxes in Milwaukee County by $400 Million - IN JUST ONE COUNTY of the 72 counties in Wisconsin.
He just deferred it so that the tax bill would hit us years later, WITH INTEREST.
Just what do you think he would do if he became Governor?
For specific research resources for documentation for what is in the above posting, please go to "Tax Issues" in the Issues section on the left side of this screen.