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- cross-posted to:
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The Trump administration is preparing to cancel a large swath of federal funding for California, an effort that could begin as soon as Friday, according to multiple sources.
Agencies are being told to start identifying grants the administration can withhold from California. Sources said the administration is specifically considering a full termination of federal grant funding for the University of California and California State University systems.
Singling out one state for massive cuts would be an unusual move, but Donald Trump has long made Democratic-led California a target.
Sounds like California should cancel the taxes it would normally send to the fed.
All the blue states should do this. Shake off the conservative parasites.
That would break the bank. California is 4th largest economy in the world, after the U.S., China, and Germany. It would probably cause Trump to declare martial law and send troops to California.
Sign me up for Cali’s defense. Better to fight Trump and his kind, than to live with them for the rest of my life.
I mean, good luck? CA is also obscenely well defended, since most of its modern wealth came from it being considered a battleground vs Japan and Russia, so there’s loads of bases.
Most likely, this will just yet again be a defeat in court. That dude is just throwing shit against the wall and hoping some of it will stick.
Why are people still convinced that the courts have any meaningful power anymore? The orangeboi regime has already flagrantly ignored a ton of court rulings; they’ll continue to ignore more court rulings. They don’t care. It’s not “who’s gonna let me”; it’s “who’s gonna stop me”. Orangeboi et al have inserted their own loyalist flunkies into the leadership of all the organizations that can effectively function as the enforcement of court decisions. There are no guardrails anymore. “Checks and balances” is and always was a gentlemen’s agreement, and it’s no longer being honored.
That and the geography is an absolute mf for logistics. There’s like three good roads that cross the Sierra Nevada.
Staffed with federal employees. Fort Hunter isn’t going to protect Californians from the Pentagon. It is the Pentagon.
Also, and this is a much bigger deal, Gavin Newsome is a cowardly little parasite. He’s not going to side with Californians on this. He’s going to grovel on his belly and lick Trump’s shoes hoping he can convince The Donald to relent.
So long as DOGE runs the US Treasury, it hardly matters. If Trump starts cancelling payments and reversing transactions at a California scale, he’ll drag the whole country into recession overnight. Courts can issue orders, but only the Treasury has the power to authorize payments.
You’re assuming Trump wouldn’t also fuck over troops stationed here in California. Remember military personnel are reliant on local infrastructure in a lot of areas and if Trump starts fucking with it again the military may be caught in the crossfire.
I’m assuming the comment “declaring martial law” would require nat guard (natives) and stationed troops (federal) to attempt to impose order. Not sure what that has to do with local infra, but the last time they tried that (LA Riots) it didn’t go great. Doing it for a strictly political reason would likely result in some very hard decisions for a lot of nat guard and some federal career military. The Nat Guard and federales couldn’t even restore order in South Central when most of the state was in their corner, it’d be madness to think they could handle the whole state when it was over a pissing match.
California gets roughly $162.9 billion from the fed. California pays roughly $692 billion to the fed in taxes.
It’d be pretty easy to see them choosing to just withhold whatever Trump decided to deny them and say “fine, then we’ll just make up the offset, suck it”, and then things would get interesting indeed.
I thought ya meant that because of how militarized the state was it’d be hard for the state to respond. I was just stating you could cut water and electricity as a response to that.
But yeah you are right on the fact the response would at best be a mess, honestly if they were told to occupy the state they’d probably just sit around getting heat stroke and doing nothing.
(cue cut scene of Twenty-nine Palms) :D I think you’re right
That entire section of the hi desert may as well be summarized as “do nothing get heat stroke”.
Yeah but how the fuck would he pay the troops without, you know, California’s money?
I maintain the quickest way for military and LEOs to drop support for Trump is realizing they aren’t gonna get paid or that their money has become essentially worthless. Either scenario will pit them against him. If they can’t feed their families they will turn, considering it’s an all volunteer military. He would have to instate a harsh draft first to avoid that.
I’d love to sign up but I have really bad bone spurs…
If California’s taxes suddenly evaporated, it would create a massive budget deficit that would have to be plugged by printing money, would debase the currency and likely cause hyperinflation.
Which would render the US dollar essentially worthless, resulting in soldiers and LEOs essentially being “unpaid” and no longer willing to support Trump.
Ya’ll gotta understand that california doesn’t just hand over big bags of money once a year, the mechanisms of payment are numerous and vastly complex, often overseen directly by the IRS in concert with interstate banking groups which california has no authority over. Add to that, the federal budget is a budget. The feds already have payroll secured for the forseeable future, certainly long enough to roll in and arrest Newsom (et. al.) for sedition. The conservative hate machine has, as well, been painting “Commiefornia” as the enemy for years. Troops have been fantasizing about rolling tanks down sunset boulevard and pacifying those uppity libs for decades now, it’s not like that sentiment can’t or won’t be exploited by the trump admin.
There’s just no feasible scenario in which this would end well for california.
Maybe, maybe not. What you have to consider is that when you are in the military, the federal government owns you like livestock. They feed you, house you, and can send you to your death. You don’t necessarily need money, especially in the short term. Moreover, there are rules that prevent active duty military from being ejected from housing. You might not be happy about dollar devaluation, but the blame will be focused on the “bad” people of California and you’re there to make it right. It would take a lot for the U.S. military machine to grind to a halt, and a lot of damage can be done while it is happening.
Another common idea is that the good folks in the military aren’t going to shoot civilians, and would rebel if ordered to. While there might be some isolated rebellion, most people in the military are conditioned to follow orders, and will do so, even if such orders are illegal. People will do what they have to to keep the pressure off themselves.
I assure you, you can be both active duty and broke shitless. Its heavily subsidized food, lodging, and bare necessities; and the current government is trying to slash even those benefits. There’s also only so long you can keep people happy without disposable income.
If you have kids, you do. Plenty of people in the military with spouses and children.
the trick is to have them shoot their kids especially if they live in california with them then they wont feel bad for not getting paid to shoot their kids
If you subtract California from the USA is it still #1?
Yes. The U.S. GDP is around $30 trillion. China is around $19 trillion. California is around $4 trillion.
Let’s get it over with.
To do what?
California can just stop aiding the IRS in collecting tax.
Remember, the state doesn’t pay taxes, individual citizens do by filling out their annual federal income taxes.
So, if “California” were to stop giving money to the federal government, the governor would basically need to convince individual citizens not to file their 1040.
And all of those people would have to clinch their assholes and hope Trump didn’t sick the IRS on them.
For private businesses sure, but Newsom can simply set up an escrow account and direct all state government entities to send their federal withholding to the new account instead.
California imposes a new law that companies operating in Cali cannot automatically collect federal income tax from Californian citizens.
Cali raises the state tax rate to match the current federal rate (could probably go lower actually, since Cali is subsidizing most of the red states).
Boom, no more taxes paid to the Fed.
Or… Cali’s creates a law where their own tax department collects the federal tax and pays it for their citizens.
If we had less of a coward in sacramento, id say they could back us.
If Californians (Or everyone) just filed for extensions en masse, that alone would fuck shit up and would be totally legal.
Most people don’t owe the IRS money. They’re owed a rebate. How would filing for an extension benefit someone who is expecting a $2000 check back from the IRS for excess paid?
If you’re planning to do any sort of tax strike, step one is zeroing your withholdings.
Based on my research, this is what I’m seeing as well, an important first step.
If it really starts affecting the economy, expect the ability to set your withholdings to vanish.
A little, but not that much. The federal government already has most of the money because of tax withholding from employers. When you file taxes as an employee you’re just balancing what’s leftover and playing “did I over or under pay even though you already know that.” It would require the state preventing employers from withholding or sending money to the IRS on behalf of their employees, and I doubt companies would just unilaterally stop doing that.
In fact it might help the federal government cause people tend to be owed more refunds than unpaid tax.
Yeah that was my thinking as well, the idea that people stop filing their taxes doesn’t do much when the system to get the money from your paycheck to the government mostly doesn’t involve you
They can stop taking federal taxes out of state employee pay
But then each of those people get walloped with a big ass 1040 payment from the feds at the end of the year. And they feds can chose to make an “example” of random people who don’t pay up.
Presumably California would declare that they wouldn’t comply with IRS investigations but those people would be vulnerable if they travel or have assets outside California
Also employers would need to all simultaneously stop withholding taxes from employee paychecks for federal taxes, since you can’t just update your W-2 to a $0 withholding without claiming dependents, multiple other jobs, etc. You don’t “choose” your withholding, you just check the boxes that calculates the minimum withholding.
Californexit
Califexit. Or Cali Fecks Off depending where n your point of view.
That’s the problem California doesn’t send taxes to the Federal government. People and businesses pay directly to the government. There’s no mechanism to even stop it on a state level if a governor wanted to.
ban local/state agencies from assisting the IRS with tax enforcement
They don’t do that now. The IRS contacts the bank, that’s licensed as a bank by the federal government, and tells them to close your account. Usually the first step is to freeze your assets, then they start taking things. The banks aren’t going to argue, they’re not going to give up their entire business just to protect you, or a single state. Even if it is California.
That is an oversimplification. While the IRS can issue levies to federally regulated banks, it usually requires a formal legal process such as a tax lien or a court order. Banks do not comply automatically without proper documentation. State laws can influence how quickly or effectively the IRS operates, especially if the state limits data sharing, delays cooperation, or questions jurisdiction. Not all banks are federally chartered. Some are licensed at the state level and may face different legal pressures. California cannot stop the IRS entirely, but it can slow down enforcement, create legal friction, and raise the political stakes.
Not counting on the rules applying any longer.
No taxation without representation.
How could California do that when taxes are paid directly by the taxee to the IRS?
Start cutting power, water, and gas to federal offices and facilities, let’s see if they can do jack shit when it’s 90 degrees outside and 110 inside. Mind you that is just me thinking reconciliation is stupid and shouldn’t be considered as a possibility.
That’s what Trump wants, to burn it all down.
West coast has enough intelligence and money to navigate without the federal govt.
That’s not the point. By cutting off water electricity etc you are helping Trump dismantle the federal government. You know that Trump guy that said “we want federal employees to hate going into work” well congratulations you just helped him big time.
Change your withholding, then only pay state tax.
ban local/state agencies from assisting the IRS with tax enforcement
I was wondering about this. The new BBB or whatever increases SALT to 40k. I live in Jersey. I would have no problem with NJ just taxing me 40k outright. You just pay 40k to live in NJ. And then I just deduct that 40k from my federal tax burden, bringing it down below 0. What’s stopping states from doing this?
The irs wouldn’t recognize the deduction and you would still owe the entire amount to the federal government.
I’m curious why you say this, and I’m not trying to be argumentative. I pay 11k for property taxes, and so with this I get to deduct that 11k from my federal taxes. And if you mean to say that the IRS and the Feds would be like hey, you can’t do that, yeah, you’re probably right, and I agree. I’m just curious if you had some other rationale for the suggestion. I am no tax expert.
It would be considered tax evasion. Deductions not authorized by federal statute, have no affect on federal tax laws. Start following your own rules, and they will come knocking on your door. Of course with staffing cuts, it could be years from now when they show up.
SALT is authorized.
Yeah, I guess I’m still a little confused. You’re allowed to deduct State and Local taxes on your federal return. Now it’s 10k, the BBB raises it to 40k. I’m just saying states should levy a tax to maximize the SALT deduction for everyone, because you’re allowed to do it. But it’s not going to happen, just me being silly.
I was misunderstanding a bit myself. I was thinking you meant by yourself. As a state, California could possibly increase property taxes to maximize everyone’s salt deduction. As more of a long term solution it might even be an idea depending on California constitutional law. More likely though, they would just have to fight the illegal impoundment in the court. While it would likely take months to get done, changing tax law the the affects of that would take years.
That is exactly what should happen.