Donor Counties, Receiver State: How Georgia Blue Counties Are Donors that Help Power Economic Development

Op-Ed: Donor Counties, Receiver State: How Georgia Blue Counties Are Donors that Help Power Economic Development

By Rep. Viola Davis, Georgia House District 87

If you’ve ever wondered how your federal tax dollars are used, or where they go, you’re not alone. Most people assume their hard-earned money stays in their state to fix roads, fund schools, or help families. But here’s something most Georgians don’t realize: Georgia is a receiver state.

That means we get more money from the federal government than we pay in taxes. The federal government gives us support in many forms, from infrastructure funding to healthcare programs, education, disaster aid, and agriculture subsidies. For every dollar Georgians pay in federal taxes, the state receives more than a dollar in return. This federal support helps build our highways, keep our hospitals running, and sustain schools across the state.

But that’s not the full story.

While Georgia as a whole is a receiver state, the same imbalance happens within our borders, between counties.

Some counties pay more into the system than they get back. These are called donor counties. Others receive more from the state or federal government than they contribute, these are receiver counties. Sound familiar?

Let’s look closer. In Georgia, many of the economically strongest, most populous, and tax-generating counties, like DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb, are donor counties. These areas, often labeled “blue counties” due to their voting patterns, contribute far more in taxes to the state than they receive in funding and services.

Meanwhile, smaller or rural counties, often “red counties”, tend to receive more state and federal dollars than they pay in. That’s not inherently unfair. It’s part of our social contract, wealthier areas help support less-resourced ones. But the imbalance becomes problematic when donor counties face budget shortfalls in their own schools and infrastructure while subsidizing others that receive significant support.

For example, counties like DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb received $0 in Equalization Grants or Sparsity Grants in recent years, despite educating high-need student populations. At the same time, counties with far fewer students, but lower property tax bases, received millions in funding from these grants.

It’s not just a Georgia issue. Nationally, this pattern plays out in the economic power of “blue” areas. In 2020, counties that voted for Joe Biden made up about 71% of the U.S. GDP, according to the Brookings Institution. Even in 2024, after some political shifts, these counties still produced around 62% of the nation’s economic output. Yet many of these same regions continue to send more tax dollars to Washington than they get back.

What does this mean for Georgia?

It means that even though our state benefits from being a receiver on the federal level, our blue, urban counties are often the donors propping up the system. They generate the economic activity, job creation, and tax base that allow Georgia to be competitive, and to receive generous federal support in the first place.

So when people ask, “Which is better: being a donor or a receiver?” The answer depends on who you are, and where you live. Donor counties shoulder more of the burden. Receiver counties rely more heavily on shared resources.

As policymakers, we need to recognize this internal imbalance and ensure that every Georgia county, including our donor counties, gets the resources it needs to succeed. We must work toward a fairer formula for school funding, economic development, and tax equity that lifts every corner of Georgia without leaving our strongest contributors behind.

Because when we all pay our fair share and all benefit fairly, that’s when Georgia truly wins.

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Rep. Viola Davis represents House District 87 which covers DeKalb County. She is a veteran, critical care nurse, and strong advocate for fiscal transparency and equitable funding across Georgia.

Representative Viola Davis represents the citizens of District 87, which includes a portion of DeKalb County. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and currently serves on the Defense & Veterans Affairs, Health, Insurance, Natural Resources & Environment and Urban Affairs committees.