Red Versus Blue State Debates Are Instructive And We Need More Of Them

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

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

The Tax Foundation recently released the new data on per capita state and local tax collections. Those numbers show that in California, per capita state and local tax collections were $9,175 in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, whereas in Florida that figure is $4,405. The fact that California’s per capita tax collections are more than double Florida’s, verifiably so, did not stop Gavin Newsom from trying to suggest California imposes a lower tax burden, which is not true.

Perhaps understanding that Californians face much higher state and local tax burdens on average than do Floridians, Newsom attacked Florida’s tax code as regressive. Yet, as Governor DeSantis pointed out in response to that critique, when it comes to the major 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 levies a sales tax more than 20% greater than the 6.00% state sales tax rate applied in Florida. When it comes to fuel taxes, “California pumps out the highest state gas tax rate of 66.98 cents per gallon,” notes the Tax Foundation. Florida, meanwhile, levies a 42.26 cents per gallon gas tax.

Aside from 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 gas in California is currently $4.846 according to AAA, while it’s $3.173 in Florida. Governor Newsom is suing oil and gas companies, alleging price gouging. Governor DeSantis commented on Newsom’s lawsuit during the debate, arguing that it’s illogical to think oil and gas companies would price gouge in California alone.

Governor Newsom’s fact-challenged assertions during his debate with Governor DeSantis weren’t limited to taxes. “Florida is not a state of freedom,” Newsom claimed at one point. That assertion, however, is belied by the latest edition of the Freedom in the 50 States Index. That index, writes George Mason law professor Ilya Somin, “includes a wealth of data on a variety of state policies affecting freedom, as well as overall rankings of state policy, rankings of economic and personal freedom considered separately, and rankings based on a range of subcategories.”

The latest edition of the Freedom in the 50 States Index, which is released annually by the Cato Institute, ranks Florida as the second most free state in the nation, with only New Hampshire residents having more freedom. California, in contrast, is ranked as the third least free state. Only New York and Hawaii are ranked as less free than California. “California is one of the least free states in the country, largely because of its long-standing poor performance on economic freedom,” the Index notes about California’s poor standing.

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

One California policy that Democrats are trying to take national, Assembly Bill 5, did not come up. The PRO Act, which is a high priority for the Biden White House and congressional Democrats would effectively impose California’s AB 5 employment standards nationally, 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 on the books in 26 states, protect workers from being forced to join a union as a condition of employment.

That was just one major policy that the debate didn’t get into, but there are more, which is why 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’d be willing to do it again.

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