r/politics • u/harsh2k5 • 1d ago

Soft Paywall The Trump Administration Just Violated Another Court Order | It gets worse: The order found that the administration was covertly withholding millions in FEMA funds from blue states.

https://newrepublic.com/post/193650/trump-administration-just-violated-another-court-order
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u/Lord-Velveeta 1d ago

So what happens when citizens of the blue states like NYS and California who are bankrolling the red welfare states stop sending tax money to DC?

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u/a__nice__tnetennba 1d ago

The problem is that it gets there via income taxes. So companies would have to stop sending it. You can't just go tell your employer to stop paying your taxes to the IRS for you.

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u/darkslide3000 1d ago

A state government can absolutely do that. Whether companies comply is a different question, but states have their own means of enforcement if necessary.

In the end that kind of escalation spiral would likely only last days before people start shooting anyway. Trump is a megalomaniac, he'd never shy away from using violence to get his way.

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u/divDevGuy 21h ago

A state government can absolutely do that.

Please, tell us all how a state government can absolutely do that.

Any answer that involves the company, responsible individuals at the company, or employees being subject to civil or criminal penalties at the federal level don't count.

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u/darkslide3000 7h ago

...by passing a law that says no company operating in the state is allowed to cooperate with the IRS and transfer payroll withholdings to it (e.g. either stating that they shouldn't withhold any pay at all, or that they should instead transfer them to a state agency which will hold them escrow for the time being)? And stipulating fierce penalties (like terms in state prison) to both the company and its individual officers for non-compliance?

States have cops, you know? In fact the vast majority of police forces in the country are established at state level or lower. They could absolutely order them to arrest anyone that doesn't comply with their view of how companies in the state should operate. (And for companies where no senior employee lives in the state, they could at least prevent them from doing business there.)

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u/GrunchJingo 1d ago

You can adjust your withholding, but this comes with the problem of "falsifying your W-4" and potentially getting an audit down the line.