Originally Posted by pocketkangaroo

You can blame that on the fact that they get screwed by the federal government.

For every $1 that a California resident pays in federal taxes, they receive $0.78 back. In New York, they only get $0.79 back.

If they weren't forced to bailout states like Mississippi ($2.02 for every $1 they put in) and Alaska ($1.84 for every $1 they put in), they would have a massive surplus. Most of the blue states can survive without the federal government, the red ones can't.