The Mean States In The US Are Also The Red States

If you are are poor, and you live in one of the mean states, you will pay more in taxes and you get fewer public services than the poor in the kinder states.  That is because the mean states make greater use of regressive taxes that take a higher share of the income from the poor than they do from those with higher incomes.  The sales tax is the tax of choice in the mean states.  Corporate taxes are low, and there are few states with a progressive income tax. Not surprisingly, the mean states are concentrated in the South and increasingly in the Western states.  They are also the red states that support politicians that are intent upon maintaining that system.  They are also the states with that don't spend a lot of money on public education.  The system works best when you don't have a well educated public.  Things would be even worse in the mean states if the poor did not get assistance from the federal government.  States in the Northeast and the Midwest provide more in federal taxes than they get back in benefits.  The citizens in these states help to pay for the low taxes on corporations and high income earners.  The mean states are the "moocher" states.  They receive more in federal benefits that they pay in federal taxes.  The mean states are also the primary beneficiaries of military spending.  The bulk of our military bases are located in the mean states.