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Fact check: Which states have the highest per-capita federal tax payments?
Executive Summary
States with the highest per-capita federal tax payments tend to be high-income, “donor” states such as Massachusetts, Washington, California, and New York, where residents pay more federal taxes per person than residents of lower-income states; sources highlight income levels and changing pandemic-era spending as key drivers of per-capita tax patterns [1] [2] [3]. The available analyses are fragmentary and focus on balances between federal taxes paid and federal spending received rather than a single standardized per-capita tax ranking, so comparisons require careful interpretation of timeframes and what is being measured [1] [3].
1. Why income and donor-state status explain high per-capita federal taxes — the economic logic that matters
High per-capita federal tax payments correlate strongly with higher incomes, since federal income taxes—progressive by design—rise faster than income. The Rockefeller Institute analysis points to states with high per-capita incomes such as Massachusetts and Washington as among those paying the most federal tax per person [1]. This means that when asking which states pay the most per resident, the answer is driven less by population size than by per-person earnings: higher average wages translate into higher average federal tax liabilities, producing the donor-state pattern observed in multiple studies [1] [2].
2. California as an archetypal donor state — repeated net pay-ins to Washington
California’s status as a consistent donor state illustrates how a large, high-income state can pay more in federal taxes than it receives in federal spending. Research shows Californians paid more in federal taxes than the state received in eight of nine years between 2015 and 2023, underscoring persistent net outflows to the federal government [2]. That pattern reflects California’s combination of high incomes, sizable federal tax liabilities, and the structure of federal spending programs, which do not offset the state’s tax contributions at an equal per-capita rate [2].
3. New York’s shifting balance — pandemic effects and the unwind of relief spending
New York’s net balance with the federal government shifted materially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses indicate a net negative balance in 2022 driven largely by the fiscal impacts of pandemic-era federal relief and their subsequent wind-down, which altered the typical relationship between taxes paid and federal dollars received [3]. That change shows how large, temporary federal expenditures—grants, enhanced Medicaid funding, and relief programs—can substantially alter per-capita balances year to year even when long-term tax patterns remain shaped by income and economic structure [3].
4. What the available sources actually measure — taxes paid vs. federal spending received
The existing analyses mix per-capita federal tax payments with measures of federal receipts to states, often framed as “balance of payments.” Rockefeller and state-focused studies emphasize payments versus receipts rather than an unambiguous ranked list of per-capita federal tax liabilities, so apparent conclusions about which states “pay the most” rely on interpreting different metrics [1] [2]. Users should note that one can rank states by federal taxes paid per capita, by net balance (taxes minus federal spending), or by share of income going to federal taxes—each produces a different ordering and tells a different policy story [1] [2].
5. Gaps and limits in the coverage — what researchers have not fully supplied
The supplied materials do not offer a single, up-to-date ranked table of per-capita federal tax payments by state for a specific year; instead they provide snapshots, balance assessments, and broader tax-burden discussions [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Several provided sources explicitly note they do not directly answer the ranking question and focus on progressivity or state tax burdens instead [4] [5]. This omission matters: without a consistent methodology and time window, identifying the “highest per-capita” states remains approximate and contingent on what counts as federal tax (income, payroll, corporate allocations) and which year is chosen [6].
6. Alternative viewpoints and framing — progressivity and overall tax burden
Other sources emphasize progressivity and total tax burden rather than per-capita federal payments, reminding readers that who pays more in federal taxes does not directly equate to overall tax burden or welfare impacts [4] [7]. For example, analyses that look at state and local tax burdens (such as WalletHub’s work on overall tax burdens) show very different state orderings—Hawaii highest, Alaska lowest—because they measure state/local taxes and not federal payments [7]. This contrast highlights diverse policy questions: paying more in federal taxes per capita can coexist with lower or higher total tax burdens depending on state tax systems [5] [7].
7. Practical takeaway and what a precise answer would require
A precise ranking of states by federal taxes paid per capita requires a standardized dataset and specification—year, inclusion of tax types, and whether to offset federal spending receipts—none of which the provided analyses uniformly deliver [1] [6]. The existing evidence consistently points to Massachusetts, Washington, California, and New York as among the higher-paying states on a per-person basis because of high incomes and donor-state dynamics, but the absence of a single recent, methodologically uniform table in these materials means any definitive list should be treated as provisional pending a dedicated per-capita tax dataset [1] [2] [3].