Germany paid net €12bn. California has net federal tax receipts of $450bn. Not identical types of figures, but comparing the tiny transfer payments in the EU to the gigantic ones in real financial unions is where the difference lies.
It is meaningless to compare a net transfer to gross tax receipts. California's large, wealthy population generates high federal tax receipts, but it's net contribution is actually negative because the federal government currently spends more in California than it receives in taxes.
Source: https://www.governing.com/week-in-finance/gov-taxpayers-10-s...
[1]: https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2017-09-28_B...
Everyone appears to use the short billion these days, and it caused me significant cognitive dissonance!