FICA?

That slogan hasn’t worked for WDC yet

Yup, that's what I'm thinking. I mean I'll set the money aside in a bond or fund that will grow, and if I eventually have to pay it, I will. But hopefully there will be a class action which can help shield people while the suit is ongoing

At which point, people should start dumping tariffed goods in Boston Harbor, right?

"It's an official act."

They should stop paying their share of federal taxes.

Always has, always will.

Perhaps someone should have a talk with him.

looks around it been here, homie

I mean, due to Republicans, there is currently a district of 800,000 people being taxed without representation.

Sooooo that goes both way, right?

Republicans get to be vindictive because they believe they've got nothing to lose. They don't see blue states as winnable and they don't believe they need those votes to run the country. They focus power within the executive branch and secure the courts in order to rubber stamp unitary executive authority.

Democrats have to be servile because they believe they can't win without red-state support. They consistently insist that states like Texas and Florida are within their reach if they just move a little farther rightward. And they believe they need the support from these states in order to secure the power to govern nationally. They focus on securing legislative majorities because they believe they need 60 votes in the Senate and a surplus of Democrats in the House in order to affect any kind of policy reforms.

Blue states can stop paying fed taxes, right?

Taxes are collected at the point of individual employment and business transaction. My employer sends a chunk of my paycheck directly to the IRS. My company pays business taxes directly to the US Treasury. None of it passes through any state or local agency. And state/local agencies have no authority over the federal collections process.

Blue states do host a variety of federal assets and employees. So, you could see a state government try and pull a Ft. Sumtner - effectively threatening to evict federal employees and claim federal property as their own - because they don't like federal policy. But the last time states tried that it ended very badly for them.

Violence.

Well, it's about to get worse - way worse.

I'm hoping he thinks he has to get all of this done before midterms because he knows it's all downhill from there

They're not sure their use of ICE and the military for voter suppression during the midterms will work

So? What is happening there?

That's what I was thinking. Blue states should get something before their state supreme courts clarifying that they believe the states can require all income tax payments to flow through them. When the US SC says no that's not how it works the state SC should just put their fingers in their ears and say "nah na na, nah, we can't hear you".

I mean that would totally collapse the US dollar... But it would be fascinating and probably the correct course of action

reduce federal taxes

It'd probably be disdavantageous to Republican voters, ironically.

From 2020:

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/

This time, Biden’s winning base in 509 counties encompasses fully 71% of America’s economic activity, while Trump’s losing base of 2,547 counties represents just 29% of the economy.

I'm not American but I see this as the only tenable way out of this mess. The percentage of brain rot is simply too high for the country to function as a unified federal state, and needs to go back to what you've described (which was basically the idea of the US at the outset, or also a bit like Brazil or the EU of today)

Reduce federal spending, reduce federal taxes, and let states manage their own policies

This would require states to pick up their own slack. And even the bluest of blue states seem loathe to inherit the responsibilities of the federal government. California doesn't want to implement its own national health system. Vermont doesn't want to implement Single Payer. Massachusetts doesn't want to make state universities free of charge. Colorado and Virginia don't want to cut their policing budgets or implement public housing and jobs programs. Washington State won't match its minimum wage to the state cost of living.

All of these governments are run by corporate oligarchs. Some of them wear a liberal veneer, financing parades for the wealthiest members of the LGBTQ community or issuing land acknowledgements for the destitute native populations sequestered on their reservations. But actual socialist policies - publicly owned utilities, publicly owned and distributed agriculture products, fully democratic school boards, free-at-point-of-service mass transit - are vanishingly rare in practice.

There will still be people unhappy with their state’s policies, but moving to another state is a lot easier than moving to another country.

The biggest draw to a given state is employment with wages in excess of cost of living. Texas continues to bring in lots of people abroad because the O&G industry pays very well and the cost of living is comparatively cheap. People are fleeing NYC in droves largely because the cost of living exceeds even the unusually high local wages. Meanwhile, West Virginia is emptying out with the death of the coal industry while Utah balloons its population with California retires and Silicon Valley tax dodgers.

State policies that fixate on economic growth do far more to drive migration than any kind of social policy, because you can't eat social policy. If Florida has transgender people drawn and quartered, but their real estate market and entertainment districts can land 20-year-olds into the six-figure income range, more people will continue to move there. If New Hampshire launches a full blown secession movement from the tyrannical Trump Regime, but its townships keep getting overrun by bears, you're not going to see an influx of new residents.