(CNSNews.com) - California could cut taxes, fully fund education and balance its budget by seceding from the United States, a newly organized group says.

The Committee to Explore California Secession, also known as Move On California, says it hopes to bring people together to consider the merits of an autonomous and independent California.

Those benefits would be both financial and political: "For every dollar Californians give to the federal government we see only 78-cents come back," the group's website says. It also expresses concern about "the diminishing voice of Californians in national politics" and "national trends that are tipping the balance in the direction of the religious conservative agenda."

[Contrary to what Move On California claims, California Republicans now chair six U.S. House committees, giving California more congressional clout than any other state, Fox News reported.]

Jeff Morrissette, the founder of Move On California, says the secession buzz began shortly after the November 2004 re-election of President Bush. But, he says, politicians from both parties object to subsidizing other states at a time "when those California tax dollars could be better spent at home to shore up our own fiscal problems."

According to Morrissette, if Californians could control the $40 billion that goes to pork barrel spending projects in other states every year, they could give state taxpayers a $20-billion tax cut and still have enough money to fully fund California spending priorities, specifically education, and balance the budget at the same time.

Morrissette says momentum is building for the California secession movement. "While secession may be a long-shot," he says, "it will succeed in bringing awareness to many of the grievances California has politically, socially and fiscally."

"Californians are getting pushed around and it's time we pushed back," he said.