However, year after year, there are some states that consistently use more federal money than they put in: net-receivers of tax money. Conversely, there are net-providers. The fact that these two types of states exist isn’t surprising. Rich states will tend to contribute more than they receive. States like New York will have more high earners, and will require less federal funding for programs designed help the poor, etc. Vice versa for poorer states, which have fewer high earners, but more need for federal funds.

The Economist posted this yesterday, which beautifully depicts these net-receivers and net-providers, using data about the raising and spending of federal funds over the last 20 years. I noticed a pattern, and decided to explore it.

Do “Red” states use more federal tax money than “Blue” ones?

Here is a simplified map created from the data from The Economist’s post. In my simplified map, green colored states have provided more than they have received in tax money over the last 20 years, and red colored ones have received more tax money than they have provided in the same period:

BTW: I noticed that I forgot to recolor South Carolina, no reason why its red color is more vibrant. It is red.

Here is the electoral map of the 2008 election: Blue colored states voted for Obama, red colored ones voted for McCain.

Lastly, here is the first map superimposed on the second map:

• The red colored states voted for McCain in 2008 and are net-receivers.
• The teal colored states voted for Obama in 2008 and are net-providers.
• The purple colored states voted for Obama in 2008 and are net-receivers.
• The yellow colored states voted for McCain in 2008 and are net-providers.

Findings: 

(btw, I left out Alaska and Hawaii for photoshop purposes. Both are net-receivers: Hawaii voted Obama, Alaska voted McCain.)

Of the 50 states:

• 17 were Obama voting, net tax-providers
• 4 were McCain voting, net tax-providers
• 11 were Obama voting, net tax-receivers
• 18 were McCain voting, net tax-receivers
• 60% of states that voted for Obama in 2008 are net tax-providers
• 82% of states that voted for McCain in 2008 are net tax-receivers

80% of tax providing states are “Blue.”

It seems that yes, in general, red states are takers and blue states are givers.

Is this because red states are poorer than blue states (true)? Or because blue states tend to have higher state taxes (true), which may help fund programs that use federal money in red states? Probably a lot of causes.

I wish I had the skills and time to do a better study of this. One thing that I couldn’t explore with this simple model is the amount of federal funds that are provided and received by red and blue states.

I also will probably do a better version of this, seems popular.