California Governor Gavin Newsom has raised the stakes in his ongoing fight with President Donald Trump. On Friday, Newsom threatened to stop sending federal tax payments from California to the federal government. His statement is seen as a bold escalation in the battle between the Trump administration and the nation\u2019s largest state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCalifornians pay the bills for the federal government,\u201d Newsom posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. \u201cWe pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it\u2019s time to cut that off, @realDonaldTrump.\u201d He was referring to a recent analysis from the Rockefeller Institute that California contributed about $83 billion more in federal taxes in 2022 than it received back from Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas also chimed in on BlueSky, saying, \u201cI\u2019ll use every legal and constitutional tool available to defend CA. We must look at every option, including withholding federal taxes.\u201d This suggests that some California lawmakers see withholding tax payments as a real possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newsom\u2019s threat came after reports from CNN and other outlets said that President Trump is considering a \u201cfull termination\u201d of federal grant funding for California\u2019s universities. The Trump administration has already moved to block $4 billion in funding for the state\u2019s High-Speed Rail project. The president also threatened to cut money for California after a transgender athlete placed first in two girls\u2019 high school track and field championships. These are just the latest examples of federal actions targeting California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newsom\u2019s Department of Finance spokesperson, H.D. Palmer, explained that California receives about $170 billion in federal grants across different programs, including $100.9 billion for medical assistance. Palmer said that as of Friday afternoon, they did not have clear information on what federal funding might actually be cut. \u201cThe only thing that has come from Washington about this so far is a lot of unattributed quotes and statements of intent,\u201d Palmer said in an interview with KCRA 3. \u201cBut no numbers, no spreadsheets, nothing real that you could actually analyze. So at this point, it\u2019s a lot of rhetoric but not a lot to back it up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded to Newsom\u2019s threat by calling California\u2019s policies \u201clunatic.\u201d In a statement, Desai said, \u201cThe Trump administration is committed to ending this nightmare and restoring the California Dream.\u201d He also said that no final decisions had been made about funding cuts and that any talk of this should be seen as \u201cpure speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Desai\u2019s comments show that the Trump administration sees California\u2019s approach to issues like immigration, energy, and social policies as going against federal policies. In recent years, the administration has used funding threats to try to bring California in line with national policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legally, it is unclear whether a state can block federal tax payments. Usually, taxes are collected directly by the federal government from individuals and businesses. Experts have noted that such a move would likely face challenges in court. Some have compared it to the \u201cnullification\u201d efforts by Southern states before the Civil War, when states tried to block federal actions they disagreed with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics of Newsom\u2019s threat warn that this idea could backfire by sparking a tax revolt against California\u2019s already high taxes. California\u2019s tax burden is among the highest in the nation, and some analysts think this kind of talk could create a backlash from taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supporters of Newsom argue that the governor is highlighting an important imbalance. H.D. Palmer said that the governor was making the point that California\u2019s contribution to the federal government is huge and that this should not be ignored. \u201cBecause of our strength, because of our tech-based economy, we contribute mightily to the federal government and the nation\u2019s revenue source,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cWhat the governor I think was suggesting in the tweet is that [the president] may suggest and talk a tough game about taking away dollars, but if you really want to go down this road, let\u2019s have a serious discussion about how much California contributes to the national economy and to the national Treasury in terms of the amount of tax dollars that Californians pay to the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fight between California and the Trump administration is not new. California has frequently sued the federal government, challenging Trump\u2019s policies on everything from immigration to environmental protection. Newsom has also blamed Trump\u2019s trade policies for hurting California\u2019s economy. In early May, Newsom said tariffs had ripped $16 billion from the state\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Palmer said that these threats from the Trump administration are just another round in a long-standing conflict. \u201cI think this is just another inning in a very long game that has been going on since the beginning of the year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, the threat to withhold federal taxes is just a suggestion. No formal plan has been announced, and experts doubt it would be legal. Still, the fact that Newsom and other California leaders are even talking about it shows just how tense the relationship between California and the federal government has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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California Governor Gavin Newsom has raised the stakes in his ongoing fight with President Donald Trump. On Friday, Newsom threatened to stop sending federal tax payments from California to the federal government. His statement is seen as a bold escalation in the battle between the Trump administration and the nation\u2019s largest state. What Newsom is Proposing \u201cCalifornians pay the bills for the federal government,\u201d Newsom posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. \u201cWe pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,18,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democrats","category-politics","category-trump"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/trumpnewsomeasdfas.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6170,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions\/6170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}