Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Believe it or not, there are actually five states that contribute more in revenues to the U.S. government than they get back in federal spending. According to figures from Fiscal Year 2009, those states are:
· Connecticut
· Delaware
· Illinois
· Minnesota
· New Jersey
The most impressive was Minnesota, which gave $67.6 billion in taxes to the IRS, while getting back only $45.7 billion in retirement and disability payments, grants, salaries and other payments. Delaware took in only $8.1 billion while paying out $13.7 billion.
New York and Nebraska almost broke even and Rhode Island didn’t do too badly.
On the other hand, the United States might want to consider selling Alaska back to the Russians since the state if not really cost-effective. The federal government poured $14.2 billion into the state and only got back $4.7 billion in revenue. Hawaii is another bad investment, bringing in $6.7 billion, but costing the federal government $24.6 billion. Three other states cost triple what they contribute: Mississippi, New Mexico and West Virginia.
-David Wallechinsky
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