Massachusetts

OK, I'm getting really tired of people bashing Massachusetts.  It started with the Dukakis run for President in EDIT: 1988 and has continued for the last 20+ years.  Even our own Governor Romney trashed us during his (thankfully) brief Presidential campaign.

So, let's talk about Massachusetts shall we?  Here are some interesting things about MA.

Massachusetts is currently ranked #3 in the country for "Best Educated"

 Well, of course a state routinely referred to as "Taxachusetts" would have a good educational system, after all those tax monies must be going somewhere right?

Massachusetts currently ranks #13 in Total Gross State Product (5th per capita).  I guess we can afford those tax dollars.

That might be because we are #3 in personal income per capita.

We are the #3 Healthiest state.  I guess those tax dollars are really helping keep us healthy too.

Oh and as far as Obesity goes?  We rank #50.  Least obese.

How about the divorce rate in godless, liberal Taxachusetts?  We rank #50.  Yep. They were right about us.  Oh wait.  Nope we have the LOWEST divorce rate of any state in the nation.

Since we are Taxachusetts we must be spending so much of the money you non-Taxachusetts people earn right?  Nope. We rank 40th for states in terms of Federal dollars spent per dollar paid in taxes.  For every dollar a Taxachusetts resident puts into the federal coffers, we get back 82 cents.  So, you conservative states are a drain on us poor residents of this liberal state.

At the same time us liberal hippy lazy non-working drains on society rank #5 in median household income. I guess those welfare checks are bigger than they used to be. 

Oops.  Wrong again.  It turns out that Massachusetts ranks 25th for households receiving some form of public assistance.

Now, after all of that what exactly are the real tax numbers for MA?  Where do we rank according to the Tax Foundation? 

While we rank high on the total tax burden per capita, this is actually not due to state taxes.  Our high per capita income means that we pay a larger amount of federal taxes than all of you conservative states out there.  Yet, as I mentioned above we take back less than we put in.  So next time Grover Norquist bitches about liberals, remember, we're financing your state services.  On to the stats:

In 2007, Taxachusetts ranked 28th in state/local tax burden.  That's right we pay less in state and local taxes than more than half of the US States.  Yet we manage to accomplish everything I mentioned above.  For Federal taxation burden (and make no mistake, since we get less than we give it is a BURDEN for us liberals to pay for you bottom feeding conservatives).  we rank 4th.  Yep.  You read that right.  We are getting completely screwed over.

For the actual state income tax we rank 32nd.   For sales tax we rank 45th.  Our property taxes are in the top 10.  We rank 7th.  Of course this is mostly due to the high value of housing in Massachusetts because of the high paying jobs, healthy lifestyle and great educational system we have that makes living here so attractive.  Link. 

Of course we get questioned often on "patriotism."  Well on one of the most basic patriotic things a citizen can do, give service to one's country in the military, Massachusetts ranks #23.  

Massachusetts is also the cradle of liberty in the United States.  Here was fired the Shot Heard Round the World.  Home of the Minutemen, Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and the man who wrote the U.S. Constitutions,  John Adams.  Oh yeah, that famous signature?  That belonged to a Massachusetts Patriot as well.

In MA the Boston Tea Party occurred, the Battle of Bunker Hill, we were a center of the abolitionist movement with William Lloyd Garrison leading the charge, Gay Marriage was legalized, and we became the first state in the Union to have Universal Health Care.

So do me a favor next time you hear someone bashing good ol' Taxachusetts.  Set them straight.