Mountain State residents think of ourselves as independent, "always free," and as self-sufficient as we can be. Recent political trends would suggest we believe in small government, low taxes and dealing with as little interference from the folks in Washington as possible.
Reality is quite different however, as WalletHub's "2023's Most and Least Federally Dependent States" puts West Virginia in second place -- behind only Alaska.
Far from being dead last in this study, where we are accustomed to landing in so many comparisons of states, this time West Virginia residents are number one … in terms of being the most federally dependent in the country. Our state government's dependency on the feds ranks 9th. The Mountain State's tax rates rank 17th.
"States receive federal aid for many reasons, from providing relief from natural disasters and health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic to funding improvements in education, transportation, infrastructure, healthcare and more," WalletHub explained, in prefacing its report.
Here in West Virginia, however, the state has proved itself to be a "slow spender" when it comes to the kind of federal aid that is received as the result of a natural disaster. Still, our residents, communities and the state government itself rely on federal taxpayer dollars to get by -- day to day and year after year.
It is yet another metric that demonstrates the paradox here in West Virginia; and one that should motivate lawmakers and economic development officials to be working their hardest to attract the kinds of employers that will provide jobs to free us from the chains we forged ourselves. Expansion and diversification of our economy could help break that dependency on the feds, but only if we make the changes that will attract and retain residents.
Voters got a sense this session of which lawmakers want to do that work, and which would rather watch us whither into total dependence on federal taxpayer dollars than move the state forward.