Red States = takers, Blue states = makers
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EatLeadCommie
Tommy Elrod
Their economies being largely and historically agrarian, and Alabama in particular being home to a large defense industry. Modern economies need to be diverse, and can't be stuck in the past (like all those cities on the Great Lakes that have died a slow death since textiles moved overseas). It will be interesting to see if they get more automotive jobs in the next 20 years as Detroit continues its slide into irrelevance.
EatLeadCommie
Tommy Elrod
Sales tax is the one tax that is flat and fair. So the dude making 20k/year bought 10k worth of shit last year and paid 800 in sales tax. That's 4% of his income. The rich dude who buys a 50k beamer every 5 years pays that with that purchase alone, and every other purchase made also has sales tax. Maybe the rich guy only ends up paying 3% of his income to sales tax on average because he has money wrapped up in stocks, but he's paying federal income tax, state income tax (if applicable), and property tax since he actually owns property. Yes, cue RJ here talking about how renters have property taxes rolled into their rent. Fine. So in the spot where the rich man lives, or even the middle class man, a landlord can have 10-20 units of apartments. Apartment owners are not paying the same amount of property tax as homeowners.
bigdoublezero
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I mean, away from the major cities in the northeast, nearly every place in America was largely and historically agrarian until recently.
Looking at the data, among the top 30 states who are producers of agricultural GDP for the U.S., about two-thirds are from what you'd consider "red" states, but only four of the 30 are in the South: Arkansas (2.2% of US agro GDP, 2.5% of local economy overall), Kentucky (1.7%, 1.2%), Alabama (1.6%, 1.0%), and Mississippi (1.6%, 1.0%).
Alabama and Mississippi are both in the bottom half of states that contribute to overall U.S. agricultural GDP, and neither of their economies are particularly reliant on agro. Clearly that's not the case historically, but I'd argue you could say that about most state economies outside the rustbelt.
But even if you're right in that Alabama and Mississippi are in their current mess because they've been slow to make changes to their economic models, that still doesn't get at the heart of why states like those haven't pivoted.
Looking at the data, among the top 30 states who are producers of agricultural GDP for the U.S., about two-thirds are from what you'd consider "red" states, but only four of the 30 are in the South: Arkansas (2.2% of US agro GDP, 2.5% of local economy overall), Kentucky (1.7%, 1.2%), Alabama (1.6%, 1.0%), and Mississippi (1.6%, 1.0%).
Alabama and Mississippi are both in the bottom half of states that contribute to overall U.S. agricultural GDP, and neither of their economies are particularly reliant on agro. Clearly that's not the case historically, but I'd argue you could say that about most state economies outside the rustbelt.
But even if you're right in that Alabama and Mississippi are in their current mess because they've been slow to make changes to their economic models, that still doesn't get at the heart of why states like those haven't pivoted.
BobStackFan4Life
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Eagles_Legendz
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The point is, the line that poor people don't pay what they need to in taxes is hilariously misguided. Here, in Alabama, the sales tax is 9% and you're taxed for groceries and clothing, while the property tax is practically non-existent. So, poor people, who are below the poverty line and have no choice but to eat, are being taxed at a rate wildly disproportionate to their income level, especially since they can't afford to buy a home (which is where the "tax break" comes in). It's a regressive system purposely designed to slaughter the poor. Meanwhile, the state has no tax revenue and the schools are falling apart because it relies so much on sales tax at the expense of generating any revenue from things like property taxes.