Current Events > More and more Texas Republicans are calling for Texas to break away from the US

(+) Yeah! (+)

Calls for independence are growing louder on the right. Maybe that would change if more Texans understood the costs of such a move.

Texit advocates are notably short on details about how a split actually would play out. Miller argues that there will be time to iron out the details of immigration and economic policy. There would be a lot of ironing out to do. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the federal government sent billions of dollars in relief funds to the state, Texas was receiving more money from Washington each year than it was contributing. In 2019, for example, Texas paid $272 billion in federal taxes, but received $300 billion from the federal government. Federal funds typically account for about one third of the states annual budget, according to Every Texan, a nonprofit budget and policy center.

The obvious answer would be as ironic as it is straightforward: raise taxes. In all, DeLuna said, To replace the government services we rely on, the nation of Texas would have to find a way to get an additional nine thousand dollars or so per person living herepossibly through income or sales taxes. For a two-person household, thats eighteen thousand dollars coming out of your pocket.

If Texas were to secede, shutting off the fire hose of federal dollars pouring into the state each year, the new nations leaders would face a series of daunting budgetary dilemmas. Among the most pressing: how to replace Social Security and Medicare. Although Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country, with millions of employed but uninsured individuals, Texans older than 65 (about 3.8 million) have a 98 percent health insurance rate thanks to Medicare. The same cohort has only a 12 percent poverty rate, in large part because of its access to Social Security, according to Eva DeLuna, a state budget analyst at Every Texan. As an independent nation, Texas would have to come up with its own way to replace such massive federal programs or leave elderly citizens to fend for themselves.

Texas independence would unleash countless other problems. For starters, the new nation would need to create a postal service, an aviation administration to oversee air traffic control, and a border patrol to enforce immigration and trade. New revenue would be needed for the upkeep of formerly federally managed roadways. At least one estimate suggests that an independent Texas would need more than a trillion dollars to build a national defense and create requisite government agencies and programs.

To make matters worse, the U.S. government might demand a refund for its shuttered military bases, national parks, prisons, and courthouses, shackling the new country with debt from the moment of conception. And even the TNM website acknowledges that there is no softening the blow when it comes to resolving Texass share of the national debt, which is about $2.3 trillion. When Texas leaves, it will have to take its share of the national debt with it, the site says. After all, in any divorce, outside of custody battles over children, money is the most heated issue. This will be no different.

When a Democrat is in the White House, Texas wants to break away, when a Republican is in it, California does.

Texit advocates are notably short on details about how a split actually would play out.

No single state will leave. I could potentially see groups of states forming new countries together. That's more feasible. But still not super likely

The obvious answer would be as ironic as it is straightforward: raise taxes.

https://i.imgur.com/u51Xd2W.gif

When a Democrat is in the White House, Texas wants to break away, when a Republican is in it, California does.

Take florida with you and declare yourselves the United States of Fucking Stupid.

When a Democrat is in the White House, Texas wants to break away, when a Republican is in it, California does.

The US of FS.

Hm....doesn't have that ring to it..

When their power grid fails again how many will die?

When a Democrat is in the White House, Texas wants to break away, when a Republican is in it, California does.

This, and honestly its always a bluff/hot air.

Do it