After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo lambasted the federal government for not helping out his state in these trying times, and in despite of New York’s contributions to the federal government, I decided to compile the list of the 10 states that give the most money to the federal government. For the record our site’s research director warned our readers at the end of February about the coronavirus pandemic and predicted a US recession. He also told our readers to sell their holdings and short the market to protect their portfolios from large declines in stock prices. Our monthly newsletter’s stock picks returned 72% since its inception 3 years ago and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 44 percentage points. The annual subscription price is $449.
The world as we know it has changed, and that in just the last two months. America as we know it has changed. With over 1.7 million cases and over 100,000 deaths, this is perhaps the worst moment in the lives of tens of millions of Americans. And the worst part is, we don’t even know much about Covid-19, its origins, its impact and the most important of all, how to get rid of it. As most of the country remains in lockdown, which I should mention is the best policy at the time and the safest one until we know how to combat this virus, hospitals have been overwhelmed, specifically with the demand for ventilators.
Due to the nature of the crisis and how unprecedented it is, almost no country in the world and no state in the US was prepared to deal with it. New York was the worst hit in the US initially, and still has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world. And with thousands of daily infections and tens of thousands of deaths, the state needed the help of the federal government, which rebuffed the request. Make no mistake, the government seems to be hell bent on doing the worst to its own people, from initially delaying lockdown to encouraging many states to end their lockdowns well before expert recommendations. And even though New York’s strict action helped plateau the infection rate and the death rate, other states will be feeling the brunt of the impact.
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States may even reconsider whether their contributions to the federal government make sense in light of their lack of help when most needed. After all, if you were paying an insurance premium and then when you met the conditions for an insurance payout and were refused, would you continue paying the premium? And of course, the states with the highest population will be paying more taxes. And these states generally tend to be richer as well, that’s why you will see some commonalities with America’s 25 richest cities. Therefore, to even out the ranking we considered states with both the highest absolute payments to the federal government, and the states with the highest payments to the federal government per capita. To calculate this information, we relied on the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s report. Let’s see the states which pay the most to the Federal Government, starting with number 10:
10. Washington
Total payment to the government (in million): $81,890
Payment to the government per capita: $10,753
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9. Virginia
Total payment to the government (in million): $89,533
Payment to the government per capita: $10,489
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8. Pennsylvania
Total payment to the government (in million): $126,416
Payment to the government per capita: $9,874
Pixabay/Public Domain
7. Maryland
Total payment to the government (in million): $68,531
Payment to the government per capita: $11,335
Pixabay/Public Domain
6. Connecticut
Total payment to the government (in million): $55,482
Payment to the government per capita: $15,562
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5. Illinois
Total payment to the government (in million): $136,409
Payment to the government per capita: $10,765
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4. Massachusetts
Total payment to the government (in million): $94,805
Payment to the government per capita: $13,642
Marcio Jose Bastos Silva/Shutterstock.com
3. New Jersey
Total payment to the government (in million): $119,009
Payment to the government per capita: $10,753
Pixabay/Public Domain
2. California
Total payment to the government (in million): $435,637
Payment to the government per capita: $11,025
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1. New York
Total payment to the government (in million): $256,183
Payment to the government per capita: $13,162
While New York may be paying less overall than say California, Texas or Florida, when considering the per capita contribution as well, New York easily tops the list of 10 states the Give the most money to the federal government. This lends credence to the statements made by Mayor Cuomo, that the state which contributes the most to the federal government probably deserves more support. Whether it gets that or not though, still remains to be seen.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
