I don't think those numbers mean what you and
Wharf think they mean. I heard this explained on TV recently, in fact, but didn't catch all of it.
The gist of it was that federal dollars that go out to states doesn't necessarily mean this is some kind of aid to the state, i.e. money that goes into the general revenues for the state to use as it sees fit. Those charts reflect federal money that is also going to a state for the support of federal endeavors, such as military bases, corps of engineer lakes, levees, dams and waterways, and national parks....to name a few off the top of my head. I guess federal penitentiaries would also be included....and the large, regional VA hospitals. NASA and Cape Kennedy, too, as well as Indian reservations.
Many of these things serve to benefit a whole region of the country, but they obviously have to reside in a particular state, which means the maintenance money goes to a particular state.....thus counting as federal dollars to that state.
The levee system of the entire Mississippi River brings federal money to each state along the route for maintaining those levees. But the river itself benefits all the companies that ship on it and anyone in the country who travels it for pleasure. Same could be said for any national park.
When it comes to tax dollars being returned to all the states in the form of aid, I feel sure it is quite proportional to the population of each state. If not, one would read of protests from state governors, etc. There would be some move by the have-not states to get back more of their money, don't you think?
Has Arnie complained? He was gov. while Bush was Pres. Seems like CA would have gotten its fair share back then.
As for Arkansas, we're a small state with only 3 million people. But federal money comes into the state for two bases, two huge corps of engineer lakes plus one-half of a third (these lakes draw fishermen and tourists from all over and supply the drinking water for a huge section of the mid part of the country), and a federally maintained lock and dam system for both the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers. And part of the big Cherokee Nation reservation system spills over into Arkansas from OK. |
