Blue state taxes aid red states’ needy

cents and Massachusetts 83 cents.

But when you turn to the red states, it’s the opposite. Mississippi received $2.13 for every tax dollar that its inhabitants sent to Washington. West Virginia received $2.07, Kentucky: $1.90 and South Carolina $1.71.

Taking the Trump administration’s expansive view of the meaning of “welfare” to its logical conclusion to include all those benefiting from federal spending, this means blue states are sending welfare to red states — the same red states that say they don’t like welfare.

Under the new tax law enacted by Trump and the Republicans, blue states will be giving more “welfare” to red states.

That’s because the law sets new limits for the amount of state and local taxes that people can deduct from their federal taxable incomes. And since people in blue states pay much more in state and local taxes than people in red states, blue-staters will be paying that much more in federal taxes.

Which means an even bigger transfer going from blue-state residents to all those red-state Republican voters whose party despises handouts.

I want to be quick to add that most of us here in blue states don’t mind giving red states a bigger helping hand.

Truth be told, the vast majority of Americans also oppose cuts to programs that aid the poor, elderly and sick.

We don’t regard the help as welfare handouts. We call it social insurance.

In fact, social insurance is needed and used by almost all of us. That’s why Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance are so popular.

It turns out that even programs relied upon mostly by the poor end up helping a large portion of us, because roughly onethird of all Americans are poor at some point in their lives and therefore dependent on these programs.

So when the Trump administration attacks so-called “welfare,” it’s really attacking the things most of us need. And it’s artificially dividing the country into “us” and “them.”

In reality, voters in red states are as dependent on the federal government as voters in blue states. Truth be told, even more dependent.