For the past 200 years, federalism has played an important role in America’s government. The state and federal government can sometimes be in a power struggle over certain situations and laws. Some Americans would rather have states have more power over the federal government, whereas others prefer a stronger central government. Throughout the years, federalism has changed along with the needs of the country. When President Reagan was in office, he pushed for “New Federalism”. This was the idea of giving power back to the states, however, the lack of funding from the federal government left states in a lot of debt and weakened the relations between the federal and state governments (Federal-State Relations Today: Back to States ' Rights? 2016).
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The complexity of federalism is one of the main disadvantages, which is present in the case of states pushing to legalize marijuana. When state and federal laws contradict each other it can be confusing and inconsistent. Next, a disadvantages arises when states set their taxes to attract business and people to their state. Some states such as Texas and Florida do not have income tax in order to attract business (Kahn, 2015). However, in states that cut or eliminate income tax, there is an increase on other taxes such as sales tax. This hurts the poor and has a reverse effect on the economic welfare of the state because the poor are more affected by sales tax, since it is not based on income (Kahn, 2015). Another disadvantages is that some states will have better policies set than others, which can lead to corruption. According to a study done by The University of Hong Kong and Indiana University, ‘States with higher levels of corruption are likely to favor construction, salaries, borrowing, correction, and police protection at the expense of social sectors such as education, health and hospitals ' (Christie 2014). This means that the people in these states could suffer at the expense of the corrupt state …show more content…
This program was originally started with the Social Security Act in 1935 and was eventually replaced in 1996 by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Reference.com). This was and is an example of cooperative federalism because the programs are mostly funded and set up through the federal government. However, it is up to the states to distribute the funds based on guidelines the states themselves set, which are based on factors such as resource limitations and income (Reference.com). The federal government sets up basic guidelines for these programs that helps set the foundation for states to manage the programs in ways that best works for their citizens (Levine & Yavorek). In this case, state and federal level of governments are working together to tackle a situation American citizens face that would be too large to handle as a one-size-fits all plan of action or if states had to solve it
The complexity of federalism is one of the main disadvantages, which is present in the case of states pushing to legalize marijuana. When state and federal laws contradict each other it can be confusing and inconsistent. Next, a disadvantages arises when states set their taxes to attract business and people to their state. Some states such as Texas and Florida do not have income tax in order to attract business (Kahn, 2015). However, in states that cut or eliminate income tax, there is an increase on other taxes such as sales tax. This hurts the poor and has a reverse effect on the economic welfare of the state because the poor are more affected by sales tax, since it is not based on income (Kahn, 2015). Another disadvantages is that some states will have better policies set than others, which can lead to corruption. According to a study done by The University of Hong Kong and Indiana University, ‘States with higher levels of corruption are likely to favor construction, salaries, borrowing, correction, and police protection at the expense of social sectors such as education, health and hospitals ' (Christie 2014). This means that the people in these states could suffer at the expense of the corrupt state …show more content…
This program was originally started with the Social Security Act in 1935 and was eventually replaced in 1996 by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Reference.com). This was and is an example of cooperative federalism because the programs are mostly funded and set up through the federal government. However, it is up to the states to distribute the funds based on guidelines the states themselves set, which are based on factors such as resource limitations and income (Reference.com). The federal government sets up basic guidelines for these programs that helps set the foundation for states to manage the programs in ways that best works for their citizens (Levine & Yavorek). In this case, state and federal level of governments are working together to tackle a situation American citizens face that would be too large to handle as a one-size-fits all plan of action or if states had to solve it