Originally Posted by bkcunningham1

Never say never, VK.

Originally Posted by Figmo Bohica

...Each state has enough money and resources to do what the constitution gives them the right to do....

It might be a good idea to check the current status of the budgets of the states, particulalrly the big states like California, Illinois, Florida and New York.

In fiscal year 2012 some 42 states and the District of Columbia are working to close $103 billion in budget shortfalls. These spending gaps come on top of the large shortfalls the states faced in fiscal years 2009 through 2011. States will continue to struggle to find the revenue needed to support critical public services like education, health care, and human services for a number of years to come.

As I said, the big states have the worst problems. Here's a list of the states with the biggest budget gaps in 2012 and the percentage of their budgets that the revenue shortfall represents.

California 27.2%
Illinois 16.0
Louisiana 19.4
Minnesota 20.3
Nevada 37.4
New Jersey 36.0
New York 17.6
Oregon 25.5
Texas 20.5

All states avg. 15.5%

Only eight states have achieved a balanced budget in 2012...Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia and Indiana.

No, I disagree with you Figmo. The states won't be voluntarily giving up their grants from the federal government anytime soon. It hasn't happened overnight, but the states are heavily dependent on the federal government for the funding of all kinds of projects and uses which they feel important. You can research the lists yourself, but one that will be getting a lot of conversation in coming weeks is the federal funding of Medicaid. The feds are making noises like they intend to make the care of the elderly and indigent the responsibility of the states. The states can't come close to affording to pay for the care of all their residents who have no funds to care for themselves. Talk about "killing grandma"!

No, Figmo, the states rights train has left the station...a long time ago. Listen closely how much Rick Perry has to say about abandoning federal funding for Texas. He runs a state with a 20.5% budget shortfall. Maybe that was what was behind his idea that Texas should secede from the union, keeping all the taxes they send to Washington and paying their own way. Lots of problems with that idea, one being who's going to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who's going to pay for Medicare and Social Security?

Originally Posted by KatzPajamas

hence Live Free or Die! Maybe I will be checking out New Hampshire for retirement then.

Originally Posted by Tbugs

...As far as DPlong's statement about New Hampshire doing quite well with no income tax nor sales tax - good for you. I was referring to Figmo's statement of states not taking any money from the Federal government and the states could survive, flourish, and even lower taxes while improving education. Do you honestly think that could be done? How soon would New Hampshire (or Florida) have to start a state income tax for more revenue or a state sales tax for New Hampshire if there was no Federal money coming to the states?....

Is that the same New Hampshire with the 18.4% budget shortfall? I'm guessing the "live free or die" state will take all the money it can get from the feds.

VK - How are they computing that? According to the right-wing Union Leader, we're balanced - though it's kind of precarious and next year's TINY surplus depends on us selling a particular piece of excess state property.