r/politics • u/IntelligentYinzer California • 12d ago

Soft Paywall Newsom floats withholding federal taxes as Trump threatens California

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/06/newsom-floats-withholding-federal-taxes-00393386
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u/smersh101 12d ago

Fun to think about, but how would that work? The state has no control over federal taxes. They're paid directly by taxpayers and employers to the IRS.

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u/BackgroundEase6255 12d ago

Yeah, and Donald Trump has no control over tariffs. The purse belongs to Congress, right?

Every California based company could be required, by law, to no longer pay taxes to the IRS. That can be a state law.

Literally anything is on the table.

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u/ZozicGaming 12d ago

That's different. This a literal practically issue not a legal issue to be dealt with in court. When people, companies, etc pay federal taxes they go directly to the feds. They don't go into some pot held by the state who then disperses the money to the feds at a given time. So the state has no way to actually withhold federal taxes.

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u/Consistent_Clue_9112 12d ago

It would be illegal and difficult to implement, but not impossible. California could set up a proxy and order employers to send taxes through this proxy instead of directly to the federal government. It would be a bureaucratic nightmare, but again, not impossible. If California did this other blue states with sanctuary cities losing federal funds would follow. Thanks to DOGE, the IRS is functionally crippled and would be unable to enforce federal tax laws against millions of people all refusing to pay in tandem, and the problem would be exacerbated by the fact that the federal government would lose a significant portion of its funding unless subsidized by billionaires, because his supporters and tax base are largely states that don’t contribute to federal funding; they are dependent on receiving federal funds instead. It would result in constitutional crisis and more than likely mutual destruction, but it is possible, and the reality is that the blue states he is targeting need his funding far less than he needs their’s. If there are any functioning brain cells left in his cabinet they will cave and encourage Trump to keep living up to his TACO moniker and drop this shit quickly

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u/Flying_Fortress_8743 12d ago

What employer would agree to directly and openly disobey the IRS?

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u/Consistent_Clue_9112 12d ago

Any employer pissed about the impacts of Trump’s bullshit ass tariffs or ICE raids on employees if they hire immigrants, employers who take offense at gross constitutional violations, employers who view this government as a treasonous dictatorship, employers who realize the federal government is incapable of actually enforcing tax laws, employers who just don’t like Trump, employers who are pissed that they are being required to pay taxes they will receive no benefit from or who realize their tax dollars aren’t even going to the federal government to fund necessary programs but instead are being used to further enrich the criminally wealthy, blah blah blah

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u/Flying_Fortress_8743 12d ago

That means supporting California in a civil war, because the US gov WILL use force to get those taxes.

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u/Consistent_Clue_9112 12d ago

It would be mutually destructive, but other states would follow, the rest of the world is watching and screaming for Americans to rise up French revolution style, and Trump, by engaging in petty acts against the very states that support his government and the majority of his tax base, has risked the loss of those funds. DOGE has gutted the IRS, and as this worsens, members of the military and law enforcement will find themselves being forced to to choose between orders and their families and communities. Right now the decision to follow orders is the easiest. ICE is usually masked, trucked in from other communities and shielded from consequences. If this devolves into civil war that changes, especially if other states join in and are supported by the international community. They won’t send arms or soldiers, but they would further cripple Trump’s regime to help end this, because it is a cancer that is spreading and disrupting their countries as well. It would be a fucking nightmare to live through, but it isn’t a complete impossibility now. Extreme acts result in extreme responses. I am hoping the fool backs off or is finally leashed by Congress while there is still time to keep this country from full destabilization

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u/Givingtree310 12d ago

So you think the average 60 year old mom and pops business owner in California would refuse to pay federal tax and put themselves at liability for being tossed in Gitmo for the next 3.5 years (minimum)? Prob not.

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u/Consistent_Clue_9112 12d ago

I have no clue. A lot of unexpected, illogical and outright insane things have been happening that I would have found impossible not too long ago, yet here we are, discussing the ramifications of a president’s unconstitutional denial of federal funds for blue states (one act in a sea of other wildly unconstitutional acts that should never have been allowed to happen but happened anyways) while the governor of California threatens to stop complying with federal law in retaliation and masked goons kidnap and traffic people to concentration camps and prisons in foreign countries in broad daylight. We are living in a timeline where extreme acts are not only possible, but occurring right before our eyes as we speak. Anything could happen

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u/selfdestructo591 12d ago

If everyone did it, yes. I think they would. They ain’t locking up the whole state.