The Cost of His Conservatism

The great thing about being a "conservative" like Rick Santorum is that you often don't have to bear the burden of the costs that your positions impose on the bulk of the citizens. For one thing, it is often extremely hard to calculate how those costs get distributed, let alone the diifficulty of assigning those costs to a particular policy. Putting such worries aside, we offer a simple correlation.

Rick Santorum's time in office has done nothing to benefit the state of Pennsylvania. According to a report from the Tax Foundation that tracks federal taxes paid and funding received, there has been no change in the
beneft ratio for Pennsylvania. As Santorum has risen in stature, one might expect a corresponding rise in the federal largesse for his home state, but Rick "Sorry I can't help with all the flooding damage" Santorum has not used his position to help his constituents. Since 2000, Pennsylvania has seen no change in our benefit to tax ratio (we received $1.08 in benefits for every dollar paid in taxes). We get no increase in benefit from Rick's rise through the GOP. We are barely on the positive side while Virginia receives a rather large benefit to tax ratio.

Why is this important - because people often argue that we have to keep senior legislators because they are better positioned to help. It may be that Rick really isn't positioned to help or that he won't - it doesnt really matter which.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/pennsylvania/taxingspending.html