More likely than not, you're funding Sarah Palin's gubernatorial snottiness

As a tax-harassed New Jerseyan, I don’t want to hear this bogus crap about how the scrappy and feisty eater-of-moose-testicles Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska beat her state’s budget (which is running huge surpluses) into submission. First of all, there’s all that oil money. Second of all -- and this is where I have to watch my blood pressure, Alaska gets lots and lots of money from the federal government while New Jersey does not.

This is most readily demonstrated in the statistics documenting how much federal spending a state receives per dollar of federal tax paid.

In 2005,* Alaska received $1.84 back from the federal government for every $1 in tax paid.

In 2005, New Jersey received 61 cents back from the federal government for every $1 in tax paid.

It sucks to be a New Jersey taxpayer.

In fact, for nearly 30 years, New Jersey has ranked, with one exception, 49th and 50th on federal spending for each tax dollar paid. The exception was the year we zoomed all the way up to 48th. Alaska’s ranking has varied widely over the same period, but from 1997 to 2005, it has ranked 6th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively.

It really sucks to be a New Jersey taxpayer who's been supporting Alaska's sorry mosquito-bitten ass all these years.

Since 1997, Alaska has received anywhere from $1.84 to $1.34 in federal spending for each dollar of tax paid. In comparison, since 1997 New Jersey has received anywhere from 71 cents to 61 cents in federal spending for each dollar of tax paid.

What I want to know is this: If Alaska is running huge budget surpluses, why is the state still getting so much money back from the federal government?





*The most recent year for which data are available.

For extra fun or plain aggravation, go check out your own state’s federal give-give back rankings here.