Top Democrat Rips Red 'Taker States' Getting Subsidized By Blue 'Donor States' Like New York: That's 'Actually Not Fair'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: MEDIAite

May 19th, 2025, 6:05 pm


House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was asked about the ongoing battle over the SALT deduction cap in the House on Monday. Jeffries fumed at the idea that GOP members from “taker states” want to keep taxing “Blue state” residents at a higher rate, while those states “subsidize” them at the federal level.

“I wanted to ask you about the discussion going on with SALT right now. Obviously, you still have a fair amount of New York Republicans who are not budging when it comes to discussions on SALT, but you have Republicans from other states that are saying otherwise,” asked a Capitol Hill reporter, adding:

One of the more heated conversations we saw was between Congressman Tom Suozzi and Congressman Beth Van Dyne during one of the hearings where she said Texas isn’t affected by SALT. And Suozzi kept asking her over and over again, well, what about the people of New York. Tell me about your thoughts on Republicans who want to keep the soft cap where it is, but then they say that taxpayers shouldn’t get a break for choosing to live in a high-tax state. Do you agree with that, or do you think it’s fair for Republicans from other states to say something like this?

“States like New York and New Jersey and Connecticut and Illinois and California, are donor states, we regularly send billions of dollars more to the federal government than we get back in return. We are donor states!” Jeffries replied, adding:

So we’re not going to be lectured by people who are actually in what has sometimes been referred to as taker states, who actually receive more money every year from the federal government. Than they send in terms of taxpayer dollars as to what is fair and what is right.

It’s actually not fair that you have many states in this country who subsidize other states. New York subsidizes other states, and so to provide some measure of relief through the state and local tax deduction, I think is a modest step toward balancing the revenues that come in and the revenues that come out.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/top-democrat-rips-red-taker-states-getting-subsidized-by-blue-donor-states-like-new-york-thats-actually-not-fair/

[Girard442]

1. Don't call them "takers". Call them "leeches."

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I expect there are a couple generations of young people

who have no idea what "leeches" are.

[Girard442]

4. Send them a-swimmin' in the crick.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. They could even go swimming

with brainworm host and "discover" all SORTS of things!

[underpants]

3. "Takers" is their language

You don’t hear it much anymore but at one time Republicans identified people as either “makers” or “takers” in terms of wealth. This was before they repainted themselves as populists. Part of this argument was how rich people deserved tax breaks because they are simply better than everyone else.

[twodogsbarking]

7. The African Queen.

[EllisWhy]

34. Hard to look tough when using soft language like that...

Came here to say they need to stop being so panicky about offending people with words. America needs fighters right now and to use a line from George Carlin, "Soft words make for soft people." Takers? Try leeches, grifters, moochers, or, to use the one you KNOW that MAGA would use, "Welfare states."

[Jacson6]

6. This attempt to divide the States by political majority's will only lead to civil war.

That is why this is being used. We are all American citizens and we provide the collected tax revenue according to needs.

[JustAnotherGen]

13. It's needed in NJ

We get the least amount back. In the meantime, our roads are a crumbled mess leading to Liberty State Park where you catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

They are also crumbling as you leave the Port of Elizabeth/Newark.

We can't afford to fix them - because it's too much of a burden.

Put the SALT back to where it was for 100 years. It was the promised made with the creation of the current Federal Income Tax.

If not - then we need a million households in NJ to not send their tax payments - and see what happens.

You can't arrest us all.

Is it selfish? Yep. Don't care. It's also SELFISH that the old confederacy has re-segregated leveraging 'Christian Schools' and are asking this Black Woman to fund their public schools which get shit from their state - because they aren't 'white schools'. Not one thing has changed. Now is the time to STARVE the BEAST.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Which people

I'm a Democratic Council Member in that Blue Borough. We started flipping it in 2017 - and with my election in 2023 - the Council is now entirely blue. The Borrough is blue.

Do you seriously want to dismiss the middle class and working class folks in my Borough (we are MAJORITY working class) and tell them to eat the shit sandwich Union Members?

Because I tend to think that folks making a 100K a year in Arkansas are getting a free fucking ride. Must be nice to take your kids to Disney every year. My residents can't afford those types of things.

[Wicked Blue]

20. This issue is precisely why the thought of blue state secession interests me

[paleotn]

26. Amen! Red state rich are making out like bandits when it comes to ultra low state taxes....

While WE in Blue America fund programs for their poor and educate their children. Time to say no.

[paleotn]

25. Bullshit.

I'm sick and tired of ultra low tax Red Amurka funding their madrasas with my blue state tax dollars. And the civil war bit, is that a fucking threat? Pay up or else? Truth is, a separation would be amicable for both sides. Jebusland can then go off and be some weird theocratic nightmare, without interference from those pesky blue state folks. Fine by me. I ran out of give a shits for them a long. long time ago.

[Jacson6]

28. I rest my case. This is a recipe for a civil war. n/t

[paleotn]

30. Again. Is that a threat?

Pay up or else? Why don't YOU pay more. YOU pay for the underfunded madrasas that pass for K-12 in red Amurka. Bootstraps. Find them.

[Jacson6]

31. :-(

[paleotn]

32. .....

No mooching.

[JustAnotherGen]

39. Just a little secession

If the Red States want to be violent - let them.

They inflict Intolerable Acts.

What you consider a recipe for a Civil War - I call Insurgent Spirit and Revolutionary thought.

[Torchlight]

44. It does not follow

[V850i]

37. They have more needs from the Federal government? Why?

Why is that? Because the state doesn't necessarily provide for their citizens, educate their citizens, ensure healthcare is available for their citizens, but they do have lower taxes! I say make it 1 for 1 on what you put in, only exceptions should be FEMA which we are doing away with.

[moniss]

8. I think a surtax

would be a nice proposal. Or if they don't want the tax then reduce the benefits in proportion to their contribution discrepancy. Yes I know these aren't fair to the average person in those states but it uses the GQP logic in reverse. The logic that says if we have more than you then we are keeping it and you can do with less.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Actually - no

This impacts a family of four in my borough gross $115K a year. Their property taxes support a stellar school at just under 9K.

He's a public works employee in my borough, and she works for the county daycare.

That mean's mortgage interest and state taxes are not deductible.

The problem is this country defines RICH as 100K a year. Except we don't account for places like NJ, MA, NY, CA - where we have home rule via taxes.

This is asking that family of four in NJ to cover a family of two making twice as much in Mississippi who pay jack shit in Federal taxes.

It's enough. If they want their Christian (segregated) schools and want to teach lies (Oklahoma) then by all means - tear federal funding for education away or make it a set amount per student -

And give the working class family in NJ a break. To be in the top 20% of earners in NJ you need to make just about $189K a year.

[moniss]

15. I think you missed entirely what I'm

saying.

[MichMan]

21. There is only one set of Federal tax tables; it doesn't vary by state

"This is asking that family of four in NJ to cover a family of two making twice as much in Mississippi who pay jack shit in Federal taxes."

Someone in New York, Mississippi, or Michigan with the identical amount of taxable income all pay the same amount, don't they?

Staes don't pay federal taxes, individual taxpayers do. Naturally larger states with a lot more wealthy taxpayers like California and New York, will pay more in federal income taxes than poor states like Mississippi or W. Virginia that have a higher proportion of residents in poverty. Just like Manhattan subsidizing the Bronx, Bel Air Ca, subsidizing Compton, or Bloomfield Hills, MI subsidizing Detroit. Should those wealthy cities get to keep their tax revenue for themselves, instead of helping those in areas of poverty?

[paleotn]

29. State taxes are NOT the same. That's the point. You cannot focus just on federal tax rates.

The wealthy in TN, FL, TX are making out like bandits in total tax burden, yet expect Blue America to fund programs for their poor and their grossly underfunded K-12 systems.

Blue taxes for Blue America. Red America can either get with the program or go fuck themselves.

[MichMan]

35. The post I replied to (and quoted) specifically mentioned federal taxes

State taxes are not transferred to other states anyway.

If Blue America is that concerned about funding K-12 education in other states, sounds like you would be a supporter of eliminating that funding by getting rid of the Dept of Education. No more federal funding. That way each state is responsible for their own.

[Escurumbele]

9. If its not fair, which is not, don't just say it, find a way to take it away from them, that is what repubs would do.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. He's absolutely correct

And if it STAYS in this horrendous awful bill - and gets passed at its current limit -

It should be a litmus test in 2026.

We are being taxed to death in Blue States by a Federal Government that looks down its nose at us, and Red Voters who think they are 'owed something'.

There can be no sunset rule in place. The maga Repubs have torn up 'decency' and fair play. The Democratic Party needs to keep putting up bills to remove it from the Tax Code.

[Rebl2]

11. Been that

way for many years unfortunately.

[ToxMarz]

14. Who do they think pays for the recovery when they get floods down in thier hollers.

[Initech]

18. Red states take our money which they use to shit on blue states.

We don't have to give them money, they can play nice or not at all.

[Wicked Blue]

19. Moocher states

[dedl67]

22. I lived for a time in a southern state.

The people were always complaining about paying federal taxes. It was useless to point out to those folks that their state received two dollars from the government for every one dollar they paid in taxes.

[Karasu]

23. Boom. It's about fucking time to play this card. The GOP obsession with "leeches" and "parasites" is beyond

hypocritical and has been for a long, long, long time. All the more so now that they have full control and are blowing trillions (!) on AI, military parades, investigations into celebrities, and pie in the sky nuclear shields rather than remotely investing in the lives of the rubes who vote for them.

[IcyPeas]

24. As the orange numpty would say: it's not fair, they're not paying their fair share

... they're ripping us off...

[Evolve Dammit]

27. Since Reconstruction

[Red Mountain]

33. This is the WRONG take on it

This is not the rich versus poor battle we want to fight. There is one to fight, just not this one.

And yes, he is correct in terms of the basic facts of the matter. Wealthy states do subsidize poor ones.

If states don't want to spend their state revenue (if any) on their citizens they shouldn't get Federal $ to make up the difference.........but put that in a piece of legislation and go from there.

The bigger problem is that the rich (of all states) control our government to their benefit.......and they're not all living in Alabama.

Jack up taxes on the wealthy, force states not inclined to do so to meet basic spending standards or forgo Federal help and roll the dice.

Spending on teacher salaries in NC is stupidly low.

[FakeNoose]

36. Bingo! The one-per-centers are getting the FREE RIDE in every state in the Union

It does no good when we middle class taxpayers argue among ourselves, whether we're in red states or blue states. Every time we argue with each other, the billionaire class wins.

[Bluetus]

41. And we SHOULD be using the "takers" language loud and proud every day

Last edited Thu May 22, 2025, 12:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Yes, it is obscene that the taker states also are structurally over-represented by the electoral college, the Senate and the high occurrence of voter suppression. It is certainly not wrong to mention that.

But the big story, the big message we can really win on is the TAKERS that are the oligarchs, the billionaires, the giant corporations with their huge lobbying/bribing budgets, and the corporate execs that pay themselves tens of millions of dollars per year because they are the best at gaming the system. These are not abstract things. THESE TAKERS are draining our system of the resources needed to have things like health care, education, clean water, safe food, safe air travel and so many other things

In short, the people living in wealthiest country that ever existed can't have the things that most other Western countries have -- and it is 100% because of the TAKERS AT THE TOP.

And if we can ever find a leader with some charisma, and the courage to say these things out loud, we can win some elections. But let's be honest. These are things that Bernie (and to some extent, Ron Paul a generation earlier) has been saying. And the Dem Party sees him as a greater threat than Republicans. It is bizarre unless one concludes that everything is driven by corporate money in the age of Citizen's United.

[FakeNoose]

42. Yes ... "American Oligarchs" is a better term than "billionaires"

I completely agree with your comments here. They are the real TAKERS and Chump is definitely one of them. We need a new FDR and a new "New Deal" or we're never going to overcome what the American Oligarchs have done to us. It started with Reagan and we've been going down faster every year since 1980.

[Bluetus]

43. I'm not sure. The rhetoric is important.

I suppose there are some admirable billionaires. For example, Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Cols passed away yesterday. He certainly negotiated a crazy deal that got billions from the taxpayers of Indiana. But he was also known as a man who had a big heart and hundreds of stories of his quiet generosity to those in need are being told today.

So being a billionaire is not inherently evil. In the past, I probably would have agreed that, rhetorically speaking, we shouldn't be against billionaires per se. But this is a different time. If there are some "good billionaires", let them speak for themselves and let them show the public clearly where their heart is. Because this system is now dominated by the more common species, evil bastard billionaires who feel entitled to vast wealth at the expense of everyone else in our society.

The American public is coming to realize this, so I think at this moment, it is best to attack the entire lot of billionaires as a class. Accuse them all of being amoral creatures consumed with wealth and completely contemptible in their lack of concern for society as a whole. THIS RESONATES because it is true in 99% of the cases.

And for that 1% of billionaires who are not complete bastards, the old saying applies, "To those with great fortune, come great obligations." Let them prove their decency through their actions.

[DFW]

38. Beth Van Duyne is (ugh!) my rep since tha last re-districting (used to be Colin Allred).

She is not completely stupid, but she sees it as her advantage to be a 100% MAGAT in Congress, repeating ad nauseam their hard line far right nonsense. I keep getting email from her to tell her what is on my mind. So, I wrote her on a tax issue, and got back a pre-prepared stock letter with much nonsense and no mention whatsoever of the issue I raised. I wrote back noting this, which was answered by crickets. Heaven forbid these right wing Republicans should ever DO something for the people in their districts.

Of course, I wrote a similar letter to Jeffries, and got crickets from him, too, which doesn't seem to stop him or his staff from bombarding me with requests for money. Now, I know that Congress has the Trumpanzees, Bondi, Noem, Hegseth, Gabbard, the Ukrainian War, the budget, the tariffs, and a few other higher priority issues to deal with. However, if they have the time to bombard me with requests for money, then they should have the time to inquire if there is some hindrance to giving it to them, and if they can help address it. Americans Abroad (and there are NINE MILLION of us) have to fill out two tax returns, one for their country of residence, and one for the USA. Only two countries in the world demand this of their citizens--Eritrea and the USA. ALL other countries in the world recognize residence-based taxation (RBT). You'd think a tax-busting Republican would be interested in listening to a constituent about it, but no. She probably doesn't even know where Germany is on the map. although with a name like Van Duyne (as Dutch as it gets), her ancestors came from a place right next door.

[MichMan]

40. How are retirees and working people able to pay tens of thousands of dollars annually in property taxes?

I keep seeing that property taxes in same states are typically $20,000, $30,000, and $40,000 annually. How can average people afford that?

It would eat up every penny of my Social Security check.