Graph of the Day: Progressives Give

By Michael Diedrich, Policy Associate, December 6, 2011 at 8:30 am

Today's graph is the first of two related graphs (and I bet you can guess the title of the next one). The basic thrust of these two is to look at productivity across states through the filter of general political philosophy.


(“Giver Score” calculated using FY 2005 data from the Tax Foundation)

The Tax Foundation is a conservative-leaning nonpartisan think tank (just so you know these numbers aren't coming from some crazy lefty outfit).

It provides data on how many dollars of federal spending each state receives for each dollar it contributes in taxes. I've used that data to calculate what I call the “Giver Score” for each state. The Giver Score is the difference between how much a state gave in federal taxes and how much it took.

For example, Minnesota's Giver Score is 0.28. This means that, for every dollar of federal taxes that came from Minnesota, we received 72 cents in federal spending. We gave 28 cents of every federal tax dollar to other states, hence our Giver Score.

I've coded states using a rough political alignment estimation based on presidential election data from 2004 and 2008. If a state voted for the Democrat in both years, I term it to be a broadly progressive state (and, yes, I would argue that Minnesota still qualifies despite eight years of Pawlenty trying to lead us down more conservative paths).

If a state voted for a Republican in both years, I term it to be a broadly conservative state. If a state split its vote between the years, I term it to be a moderate state. Progressive states are shown in blue, conservative states in red, and moderate states in yellow.

Exactly one state, Rhode Island, took in as much federal spending as it contributed in taxes. Of the remaining 49 states, the 17 shown here are “givers,” meaning that they have a positive Giver Score. The remaining 32 are “takers,” and have a negative Giver Score (we'll look at them in the next graph).

With the exception of oil-rich Texas, the givers are all either progressive or moderate. It looks to me like progressive public investments in transportation, health care, education, and development create a more productive economy than conservative low-tax/low-spending models. Feel free to toss this at the next conservative that goes on about low taxes' magic powering growth.

Posted in Fiscal Policy | Related Topics: Job Growth  Graphs  Conservative Policy