GOP States Are the Most Dependent on Government
If we learned nothing else during the 2012 election, it is that some of us are makers, hard-working folk solely responsible for America’s prosperity, and others are takers, who want the federal government to pay for luxuries like food and health care.
What may come as some surprise is where these two warring tribes tend to live. The states with elected officials most likely to espouse anti-taker sentiments — i.e., Republican-dominated states — are the most dependent on federal spending, while returning the least to Washington in the way of tax dollars.
That’s according to the consumer finance site Wallet Hub, which crunched federal tax and spending data and then ranked states from most to least dependent on Uncle Sam. In the map below, green states are the least dependent, while red states — appropriately — are the most dependent.
