California brags about its donor state status, that is, it forwards more in tax dollars to Washington than it gets back in federal spending. But that’s changed.

According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, California’s balance of payments with the federal government – the net difference between federal revenue collected from the state and the entirety of federal spending within that state – is negative . Three times between 2015 and 2023, California took in more than it sent to the federal government when emergency COVID spending is included.

This isn’t the story being told by official Sacramento, though.

“In case you missed it,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in June, “ California is the biggest ‘donor state’ in the country — providing around $83 billion more to t

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