Arizona ranked among top 10 most federally dependent states

PHOENIX — Arizona was ranked among the top 10 most federally dependent states by a personal finance website.

“We looked at this two ways: state residents’ dependency on the federal government and the state governments’ dependency,” Wallethub analyst Jill Gonzalez told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday.

“So essentially we looked at the return on taxes paid to the federal government, the share of federal jobs and federal funding as a share of state revenue.”

Arizona came in at No. 6 overall, No. 11 for state residents’ dependency and No. 4 for the state government’s dependency.

“Arizona ranked sixth in terms of one of the most federally dependent states because right now its residents are receiving more money than they are paying to the government, which if you’re a resident is more bang for your buck — it’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Gonzalez said.

She said for every dollar Arizonans pay to the federal government in taxes, they get $1.72 back, while typically that number is below $1.

She said the state government receives a lot of money from federal contracts, grants and financial assistance like Social Security and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“Right now as a percentage of the state revenue, about 41 percent of that comes from the federal government, so that can be seen as a plus or a minus here,” Gonzalez said.

It’s #taxseason! Does the #government give your state more #aid than others? Find out here:https://t.co/aKKL37dcZl pic.twitter.com/VksyTV5qK4

— WalletHub (@wallethub) March 19, 2019

“But essentially if anything were to happen with federal government, another recession, etc., Arizona would probably be in hot water.”

New Mexico, Mississippi and Kentucky were the top three most dependent states, while Kansas, Delaware and New Jersey were the least.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Madison Spence contributed to this report.

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