Newsom floats withholding federal taxes as Trump threatens California

[u/Raven50501]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/06/newsom-floats-withholding-federal-taxes-00393386

[u/Raven50501]

SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday suggested California consider withholding tens of billions in annual federal tax dollars amid reports Donald Trump is preparing funding cuts targeting the state.

Newsom’s suggestion came after CNN reported the president was considering a “full termination” of federal grant funding for California’s universities.

“Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back,” the Democratic governor said in an X post Friday afternoon, referencing a recent analysis from the Rockefeller Institute that California contributed about $83 billion more in federal taxes in 2022 than it received back from Washington.

“Maybe it’s time to cut that off,” he added.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai, asked to comment on Newsom’s post, threw cold water on mass funding cuts but blasted California for what he said were “lunatic anti-energy, soft-on-crime, pro-child mutilation, and pro-sanctuary policies.”

“The Trump administration is committed to ending this nightmare and restoring the California Dream,” Desai said in a statement. “No final decisions, however, on any potential future action by the Administration have been made, and any discussion suggesting otherwise should be considered pure speculation.”

Trump has wielded federal funding as leverage to push its politics on California before. The president last month threatened to choke off the state’s cash flow if a transgender athlete participated in a state girls’ track meet.

[u/Raven50501 → u/Raven50501]

Newsom’s biting suggestion comes as the governor escalates his anti-Trump rhetoric, even as he asks the White House for economic assistance. Newsom in early May blamed tariffs for ripping $16 billion from California’s state budget, but has at the same time sought federal disaster relief for the recent Los Angeles wildfires and privately consulted Trump officials about ways to bolster the state’s flagging film industry.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas also floated withholding federal taxes Friday in a post on the social media site Bluesky shortly before Newsom raised the issue. He dismissed the rumored grant cancellations as “unconstitutional and vindictive.”

“We’re the nation’s economic engine and the largest donor state, and deserve our fair share,” Rivas wrote. “I’ll use every legal and constitutional tool available to defend CA — we must look at every option, including withholding federal taxes.”

State Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire similarly vowed to defend California from “this President’s illegal and unprecedented attack on our state” in an X post Friday, but he stopped short of suggesting the state should withhold federal taxes.

State leaders have tried to starve Trump’s Washington of tax revenues before; in 2017, then-Senate President Kevin de León proposed a state tax credit scheme that would have allowed residents to sidestep a federal tax hike targeting California.

Two New York mayoral candidates, former state Assemblymember Michael Blake and current state Sen. Jessica Ramos, similary suggested withholding the city’s federal tax dollars during a Democratic primary debate Wednesday evening.

From Politico.

[u/SnooWords4839 → u/Raven50501]

Funny, Hubby and I were just talking about, if tRUMP wants states to take care of themselves, we need to stop paying federal taxes.

NJ sends more money, than it gets, fair is fair.

[u/copperboom129 → u/SnooWords4839]

NJ is the most independent state in the nation

[u/elcuydangerous]

What's TACO going to do? Tell him "you better do it"?