Newsom threatens Trump that Californians could stop paying federal taxes

Gavin Newsom suggested California could stop paying federal taxes. The Democratic governor was responding to a report suggesting that, from the Trump administration, they are analyzing the cancellation of some federal funding for the Golden State.

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, the relationship with Newsom has been strained. While they are close when they see each other in person, the truth is that the California Democrat repeatedly criticized the president's policies, even filing formal lawsuits against tariffs and some government cuts.

This time, the dispute has to do with federal funds. As reported by CNN, from the White House, the agencies were told that "they should start identifying grants that the administration can withhold from California."

"No taxpayer should be forced to fund the demise of our country. 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," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

In this context, Newsom expressed himself in his X account, where he wrote the following: "Californians pay the federal government's bills. We pay over $80 billion more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it's time to cut that."

Zoe Lofgren, the top Democratic congresswoman on the Science, Space and Technology Committee, added to the anticipated criticism of the White House.

"Trump is a bully. We’ve now heard from sources that he may be intending to cut grants to California because we didn’t vote for him and we’re Democratically inclined. … I will fight back on this. This will be immediately challenged in court," he told CNN.

Newsom's complaint

Under the current political system, the federal government collects federal taxes and gives some of that money back to the states. How does it do that? Through federal contracts, grants, and subsidies for Medicaid, transportation, and social programs, among other things.

In the case of California, the governor argues that his state's residents give away more money than they receive. According to data from the California Budget & Policy Center, California residents and businesses paid approximately $692.2 billion in federal taxes, while the state received $609.1 billion in federal funds. Therefore, for every dollar contributed, they would be receiving approximately 0.94 cents.