zoraniko
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Jun 6, 2025 10:39 PM
zoraniko
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clonedeeznuts
Go after the ones who make money instead of the southern welfare states. Smrat move.
NotThisGuyAgain
As much as I love the idea of Blue states with surplus saying 'fuck you', the poor and under-served of the Red states will be the ones who suffer. And the Republicans will cry, "If only the Blue states would pay their fair share," and rile up their base even further. Don't think it isn't calculated.
allyrounds365
How many employers are going to be brave enough NOT to submit federal taxes? The governor can tell you it will be ok but that doesn’t guarantee anything.
Oldiewankenobie1
Come join Canada....
EstellaOsoka
I fully endorse California doing this. If the federal government is going to withhold funds, then the state should not have to pay the federal government.
Rainbowdaesh
CA should tell the welfare states to fuck off.
Have fun invading a place like LA when your hick ass has to stop and ask for directions every city block.
oldscrotumthewrinkledretainer
"when your hick ass has to stop and ask for directions every city block." Can't help laughing. That's one hell of a defence strategy.
Rainbowdaesh
I’ve lived in LA/OC my entire life and even I don’t know how to navigate 90% of that hellhole. Every redhat wearing fuckboi is gonna get lost the second they get out of the inland empire if they try to invade us since that’s exactly what happens now.
BeerBanana
lost in your own city 😂
VinnyVeritas
The entire West coast should declare independence from Trump's MAGAland...
Stumpkiller
New York State supports that idea as well.
januarylover
Been saying this for years.
hereforthememes420
As someone who lives in a blue state that also proudly boasts a surplus budget (6th consecutive year), I'm all for secession. Let these idiots drown on their own. I'll never again give a shit about the poor red states who all voted for this shitshow and now celebrate on social media when ICE disrupts communities for their kidnapping missions. You voted for this shit, your poor fucking redneck state turns around with a hand out, and guess who foots the fucking bill? BLUE STATES.
GOAE
Secession can only sound good if you're entirely ignorant of what it entails. As one example, if you're land locked, you can get completely fucked over because there's no way to import goods by plane, train, boat, or truck without traveling through another country. They have the full ability to restrict any imports into your country, or force all imports to stop in their country first and impose any fees they want.
GOAE
Another example, if you're not land locked but are adjacent to US waters or airspace, secession is not necessarily going to give you ownership of that water nor airspace. You might have to take it through war.
varonicaED
California preparing large scale withholding of Federal tax and other payments, civil war predicted, California favourite to win!
xxPaulCPxx
Not to be Dougie Downer, but how exactly would Cali be able to intercept Federal taxes? It's something employers withhold and pay directly to the Fed. California would have to convince every employer, from Google to the Taco Stand to stop sending money to the IRS. The Cali wouldn't be subject to the audit - the employees would.
Slugsie
So if Cali stops receiving Fed money, and stops paying into the Fed, they'll be better off. Go for it Trump you moron.
psmith00
so, let him cut off funding for California. sounds like they'll come out ahead when they cut off funding to the Feds.
LollieCom
Seems like it's a good time for three states to leave this fascist country and become Canadian states.
psmith00
Canadian Provinces. gonna be a whole lot of different as Canadian Provinces. more gun control, less private health insurance, might even see more support for education and less support for religion in school.
acetothermus
California needs to stop sending our tax money to the feds. The magats want to play games, we have more than enough use for that money in state. FUCK the red states that are nothing but leeches and takers. They are part of the reason an asshole why Citron Caligula was elected in the first place.
rulerofthedingdongs
Citron Caligula. Esoteric, evocative, accurate. I love it. https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJld2ZtMG90cGNkbXIwYjF5c2Z6bXd5c2FiN2I4OGIyeDN2b3NieG1waSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/T5ewlwT0N20hy/giphy.mp4
L3NTON
So I guess Gavin's jump to the right to try and appease the new overlords didn't accomplish much except to show his disregard for his constituents.
billymaditsdone
He needs to "own the libs" to help burry musks epstein tweet probably.
PuppyBella
Ssoooo, what are we going to do about states that only take from the federal budget? Who and what is going to pay for that?
psmith00
that's where you finally get the oligarchs to pay their fair share. since it's a Regime you might even see the Regime simply confiscate the wealth that's needed to support the state.
Motoemt
Those are all the states that think socialism is communism and it's bad. Rah rah capitalism. Which they do not practice in those red states. Well at least the voters don't.
Hatsodoom
I mean given that California is seriously considering secession, not shocked.
bladderinfection
What? We are? When can I “vote.”
Hatsodoom
From my limited understanding, at some point on a ballot will be something related to this where Californians can vote on it. The vote isn't for actual secession yet, but it'll be a vote to form a group/team that will research if California can survive as its own independent nation. Effectively: The first step will be seeing if Californians are interested.
miklkit
The first step is to change our Constitution to allow us to secede. Then comes the debate on whether we want to.
rockyandchloe
We are the 4th largest economy in the World. Be even higher if we didn't have support Red States.
thedtp
We (Californians) make up almost 20% of the whole United States GDP. Keeping all those federal tax dollars in state would drastically change the life of every single Californian. We could have the best infrastructure and the strongest social programs without breaking a sweat.
RileyTheHarpie
Hi, new mexico here, can we join yall? We're a blue state!
prettydumb
i remember reading that and laughing, just like every other time they threatened that. they will simply stop paying federal income tax, revert it to the state, and watch them get richer
Helixninja333
When you guys secede, could you get some land in part of the red states? Or some kind of red relief program? Some of us have difficulty leaving.
PballQhead
"Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday suggested California consider withholding tens of billions in annual federal tax dollars amid reports Donald Trump is preparing funding cuts targeting the state.
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'Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back,'[…]'Maybe it’s time to cut that off', he added."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/06/newsom-floats-withholding-federal-taxes-00393386
martineb72
How would that actually work though? The state doesn't actually pay, it is the individual citizens, and I don't think the IRS cares where you live.
PballQhead
I have no idea, I'm just quoting Newsom.
It is interesting to see the idea actually floated though; he's not stupid so I'd assume he has at least some rough ideas of how to go about it.
kipagami
It's why I hate stupid articles like this. This "surplus" is paid by citizens and companies straight to the federal government. California as a state can do nothing to stop this, and can pass no laws blocking this on behalf of citizens. And if you try and stop paying taxes as an individual or business owner, you will find out why "sovereign citizens" can't stop either. California's only real option is to sue the funding block (or try some dumb move like seceding from the union}.
topscienceb
Is trump trying to bait them into secession so he can have a civil war and gain total power?
miklkit
Look up "Pacific Coast Collaborative". What is needed first is to change some State Constitutions to allow secession, then.........................
SometimesOthertimesAnytime
That would be my belief as well.
Zamerine
Destruction of the united states, creation of independent city states. They don't even hide the intent of creating "libertarian" cities ruled by oligarchs. https://thenetworkstate.com/
They do conferences about it, write books, set up communities (discord, website, twitters) and they have true money behind it.
There are several examples but here's one, backed by Peter Thiel, the billionaire behind JD Vance: https://www.insidehook.com/internet/peter-thiel-praxis-next-great-city-greenland
captainsweatypants
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlbXFkbGc4N29hZXl4NGQyYzU5aWduYnBpcXY3NmY4ZGdjN21qYjljcyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/Jgbux6u6Y71begiwdX/giphy.mp4
VikingsAreNinjaPirates
They are really excited to suspend Habeas Corpus, they just forgot to start the next Civil War first.
LuminoZero
I wish Hochul in New York was amenable to this as well. If NY left, you know all of NE would follow us right out the door (cept maybe New Hampshire and possibly Maine)
PurifiedInTheWatersOfLakeMinnetonka
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJleDF5ZW00ZzVrYnJ3Z3B5eWh2ZmxrbTI5amRsMmZ4NW1wcDRybmZ1NiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/wi8Ez1mwRcKGI/giphy.mp4
Raventhief
If the states genuinely start refusing to pay taxes for programs which only support the corps and the rich, the government would collapse.
xizar
I suspect CA would not be one to stop supporting the corps or the rich, given what companies and which people are there.
unremarkableasterisk
Go on...
HogWashDiddler
Lets do it
GreaseMonkeyOfLove
That doesn’t sound so bad lately.
thedtp
Foxplay
Good, fucking do it. It deserves to collapse
martineb72
Except it's not the states that actually pays, it is the individual citizens.
FlyByGRider
Is the state even involved in collecting federal tax or is it up to each individual employer?
FlashRyan
Exactly. The ability for the federal government to tax the citizens directly instead of through the intermediary of the state makes this sort of resistance almost impossible. You'd have to get enough regular folks to quit paying their federal income tax all at once that prosecutions would just be undoable. It's the kind of thing I would love to see, especially if paired with folks paying their fed taxes to their state instead, but the practicalities of such a rebellion would be hard to implement
datfandomdoe
So why dont we all just collectively agree to update our w4s? Im not kidding. They dont give a shit about us protesting every Saturday, but they absolutely will give a shit if they dont have access to 40% of our money
lackinglife
If I recall correctly, there's like 2 red states in the black on how much money the five versus receive
DaveSamsonite
Taxes ftom the blue states support most of tve poorer states. Time for succession.
miklkit
The states that voted for Kamala Harris collectively add up to 80% of our economy.
AisforApple
Last time I had a conversation about this with a conservative, they claimed that it's only because red states are being dragged down by their "demographics." All roads lead to Rome, it seems.
rockyandchloe
Weird, because white folks take most of the welfare money
yourmomscheese
Statistically makes sense given the demographic makeup of our country. Wonder what it looks like proportionately to population
Smidge204
Without looking I'mma guess Texas and Alaska, both of which are awash in exploitable natural resources that are their main source of income.
SixSixxtySix
Alaska is heavily dependent on federal funding. Not a lot of population, most of them earn relatively little, extremely high cost of living.
Somethingwittythiswaycomes
If MA, California and NY just... stopped the country would spiral so fast it would become a fucking ham.
DontKnowTheSource
This comment is underrated
TinyBadger101
Texas is a sometimes. It depends on oil prices mostly- if they're high, Texas is in the black, if oil prices are low then it's in the red. Looks like a few more red states joined the "pay more than get" club recently, but it's close for them. https://usafacts.org/articles/which-states-contribute-the-most-and-least-to-federal-revenue/
RawSugarPackage
It was probably Florida (past tense). Not sure how it's faring with over a 30% drop in tourism.
FeedTheNachoMan
Oops, all blue states.
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/12/states-money-federal-government
crasshtack
Haha; couldn’t even read Read Between The Lines.
IceWeaselX
Only because they're colored blue on that map.
Utah and Wyoming are red.
FeedTheNachoMan
Gonna be honest, I didn't even notice Utah and Wyoming mixed in there.
arghthisissohard
That’s not true from your link either. Did you read it?
Somnophobe
The states that are blue in that map are the ones that pay more taxes than they receive in federal money. The color in that map has nothing to do with political affiliation.
FeedTheNachoMan
No, I understand, I wasn't talking about the colors of the states on the map. My brain just sort of mentally disregarded the existence of Utah and Wyoming.