Red vs. Blue state debates are instructive and we need more of them

On the last night of November, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and California’s Gavin Newsom (D) went to Georgia for a televised moderated debate Fox News host Sean Hannity, who billed the event as The Great Red Versus Blue State Debate. As the CEOs of what many consider the quintessential red and blue say, one didn’t have to be a Newsom or DeSantis supporter to find this contest of ideas and governing philosophies instructive.

Hannity’s data-driven framing of questions posed a challenge for Governor Newsom early on. In fact, less than 12 minutes into the debate, Newsom made false claims about California’s relative tax burden. Newsom said during the debate that “it’s a lie that California has high taxes,” and then went on to claim that low- and middle-income households face lower tax burdens in California. The data, however, show that Newsom’s claim is false.

The Tax Foundation recently was released the new data on state and local tax collections per capita. Those numbers show that in California, per capita state and local tax receipts were $9,175 in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, while in Florida that number is $4,405. The fact that California’s per capita tax collections are verifiably more than double Florida’s hasn’t stopped Gavin Newsom from suggesting that California imposes a lower tax burden, which is not true.

Perhaps understanding that Californians face, on average, much higher tax burdens than Floridians, Newsom attacked Florida’s tax code as regressive. However, as Governor DeSantis pointed out in response to this criticism, when it comes to the main forms of regressive taxation, namely sales taxes and gas taxes, California imposes higher rates than Florida.

California’s state sales tax rate is the highest in the nation. At 7.25%, the Golden State imposes a sales tax more than 20% higher than Florida’s 6.00% state tax rate. When it comes to fuel taxes, “California levies the highest state gas tax rate of 66.98 cents per gallon,” notes the Tax Foundation. Florida, meanwhile, levies a gas tax of 42.26 cents per gallon.

In addition to the higher state gas tax, California’s cap and trade program also contributes to California’s relatively high gas prices. The average price of a gallon of natural gas in California is currently $4,846 according to AAA, while it is $3,173 in Florida. Governor Newsom is suing oil and gas companies, claiming they are driving up prices. Governor DeSantis commented on Newsom’s lawsuit during the debate, arguing that it is unreasonable to believe that oil and gas companies will raise prices only in California.

Governor Newsom’s factually challenged claims during his discussion with Governor DeSantis were not limited to taxes. “Florida is not a liberty state,” Newsom once argued. This claim, however, is refuted by last edition from Freedom in the 50 States Index. This index, writes George Mason Law Professor Ilya Somin “includes a wealth of data on a variety of state policies that affect liberty, as well as overall state policy scores, rankings of economic and personal freedom considered separately, and rankings based on a number of subcategories.”

The latest edition of the Freedom in the 50 States Index, released annually by the Cato Institute, ranks Florida as the second freest state in the nation, with only New Hampshire residents having more freedom. California, by contrast, ranks as the third least free state. Only New York and Hawaii rank as less free than California. “California is one of the least free states in the country, largely because of its longstanding poor record on economic freedom,” The Index notes about the bad state of California.

The Newsom-DeSantis debate touched on a wide range of issues, including education, abortion, crime and immigration. Although Newsom is unlikely to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, DeSantis argued that he is still worth talking about and his state’s policies are worth examining because Biden administration officials view California as a model and a state whose policies want to take national.

A California policy that Democrats are trying to pass, Assembly Bill 5, was not introduced. The PRO Act, a high priority for the Biden White House and congressional Democrats, would effectively enforce California’s AB 5 employment standards nationwide, which would limit the freedom of workers across the country to independently contract. Not only that, the PRO Act would repeal state right-to-work laws nationwide. Right-to-work laws, currently in 26 states, protect workers from being forced to join unions as a condition of employment.

That was just one major policy that the debate didn’t get into, but there are more, so it would be instructive for American voters to have more of these debates. Hannity alluded to that possibility at the end of the debate when he asked Newsom if he would be willing to do it again.

Not only would it be educational for American voters if Newsom and DeSantis were to clash again, but it would be even more enriching for the public if Hannity moderated more of these debates, but with other red and blue state governors as participants. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) vs. Kathy Hochul (DN.Y.), Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa) vs. Tony Evers (D-Wisc.) or Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) vs. JB Pritzker, for a few examples, all would create discussions that are not only interesting and educational, but could generate high viewership ratings.