You saw on the nightly news the success Elon Musk’s DOGE had in angering big government politicians everywhere, while proponents of smaller government cheered around the country. Some of those proponents sit in governors’ offices in places like Florida, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Iowa, where they created similar state-level efficiency organizations to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the budgets.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida created a DOGE effort in his state.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a creation of a “State DOGE Taskforce.”
DeSantis hopes to eliminate over 70 Florida government boards and commissions.
“It will be a 1-year term. It will sunset following the completion of the mission.” pic.twitter.com/mJajIfXAU3
— Red Line News (@RedLineNewsUSA) February 25, 2025
The governor told Fox News pundit Laura Ingraham that Florida was DOGE before DOGE was cool.
“Florida…we were DOGE before DOGE was cool.” — Gov. DeSantis. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/w2Blfoz9w7
— Florida Grand (@florida_grand) February 12, 2025
At City Journal, Steven Malanga explains how small government states and big government states are diverging, writing:
The trend toward deregulation and cost-cutting exemplified by state DOGE efforts emerges as the tax gap between red and blue states grows larger. During the pandemic, several large Democratic-led states used fiscal emergencies to justify tax hikes, while many Republican states moved to cut taxes once it became clear that the economy would rebound faster than expected from Covid-era shutdowns. New York, for instance, passed a whopping $4.3 billion increase in corporate and income taxes early in the pandemic, while New Jersey boosted its top tax rate on high-income individuals to the tune of nearly $400 million, and Massachusetts added a surcharge on high earners projected to raise $1 billion, even as local news reports described state government as “awash in cash.” By contrast, for fiscal year 2021 alone, 11 largely Republican states cut income-tax rates, and five reduced corporate taxes.
Since then, Republican locales have kept trimming levies and shrinking costs. A total of nine states—including Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and West Virginia—slashed income taxes in 2025. These followed reductions in 14 states the previous year, including GOP-leaning Georgia, Iowa, and Kentucky. Meantime, Democratic-controlled Maryland raised taxes on residents earning more than $500,000 in 2025, and Rhode Island introduced a new levy on vacation homes—dubbed the “Taylor Swift tax” because she owns a property there. In Washington State, Democrats hiked the capital-gains tax and expanded the business-and-occupation tax, a move projected to generate more than $1 billion annually.
Action Line: There is a widening gap between state governments that treat residents like a piggy bank from which to fund political agendas and those that want to reduce the impact of government on their lives. It’s no surprise that so many people are looking for a better America. If you’re planning a move, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2025 Super States, and click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter in order to be among the first to receive my forthcoming 2026 Super States rankings.
