Sounds like California should cancel the taxes it would normally send to the fed.
this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
realizing they aren't gonna get paid or that their money has become essentially worthless.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
If Californians (Or everyone) just filed for extensions en masse, that alone would fuck shit up and would be totally legal.
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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
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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.
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How could California do that when taxes are paid directly by the taxee to the IRS?
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No taxation without representation.
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If the federal government isn't going to give California back the federal taxes paid by its citizens then it should stop paying federal taxes.
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I don't know all the ins and outs of this, but somehow I doubt that Trump has as much financial leverage against the fourth largest economy in the world as he apparently thinks he does.
Add NY, MA, AND NJ and you have a block that is on quite solid ground.
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So Americans need to switch it off and on again. Gather up new founding fathers and mothers, write up a new constitution and declaration of independence - write up documents for a new federation between states...
Create a back up United States. Declare the old one null and void. Stop interacting with the old one. Start interacting with the new one.
Call all this something benign sounding. Try not to go to war about it. But yeah, you all need to switch this shit off and on again.
I agree. Time for a good old constitutional convention.
I can't wait to be the United Coca-Cola States of Unilever America.
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Yup, by excluding the south east (Texas to Florida) they could easily reboot it in a much more progressive manner.
Texas and Florida? You mean North Mexico and Cuba Libre?
Is California secession still a thing?
Sounds like is sure could be. Also sounds like the basis for a court case.
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He's still mad that Schwarzenegger took over The Celebrity Apprentice
Holy shit. This would be so on brand for Trump that it's probably the main reason.
The University of California is the largest employer in the state.
In most other states, Walmart is the biggest employer.
Talk about giving higher education the middle finger!
It says a lot, by itself.
Looks like a class action lawsuit involving the people of California and the Feds.
And just like they did in Maine, California will sue him and win.
Wow, so I thought I was fucked when I had "California secedes" on my bingo card
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anti-science funding. the threat to fascists states are usually intellectual and science so they are often the first to be persecuted before minorities are. most of the people in the industries are smart enough to leave the country before sht hits the fan.
I hope California secedes, for California's sake
Another day another senile ramble
Viva Cascadia.
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