Good news! My constantly revised fact sheet — “CA vs. the Other States” — has been updated. Actually, now that I think about it, the update is BAD news.
My raw fact sheet (a Word file) is all but unreadable for normal human beings. Fortunately it’s just been reformatted and posted by the good folks at the California Policy Center. It’s QUITE readable. And up to the minute, as best as I can manage.
Sadly the superior formatting doesn’t improve the results. Almost three dozen updated comparisons to review. I dropped a couple of my topics because the data was too dated.
Lots of good ammo for critics of our progressive state policies. “Enjoy.”
http://californiapolicycenter.org/unaffordable-california-it-doesnt-have-to-be-this-way-7/
Unaffordable California – It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way
December 23, 2016/by Richard Rider
December 2016 Update: Here’s a documented comparison of California taxes and economic climate with the rest of the states. The news is bad, and getting worse. But it doesn’t have to be this way! The state and local government policies that created an unaffordable California can be reversed.
PERSONAL INCOME TAX: Prior to Prop 30 passing in Nov. 2012, CA already had the 3rd worst state income tax rate in the nation. Our 9.3% tax bracket started at under $50,000 for people filing as individuals. 10.3% started at $1 million. Now our “millionaires’ tax” rate is 13.3% – including capital gains (CA total CG rate now the 2nd highest in the world!). 10+% taxes now start at $250K. CA now has by far the nation’s highest state income tax rate. We are 34% higher than 2nd place Oregon, and a heck of a lot higher than all the rest – including 8 states with zero state income tax – and one state (NH) that taxes only dividends and interest income.
CA is so bad, we also have the nation’s 2nd highest state income tax bracket. AND the 3rd. AND the 4th!
http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/ff2013.pdf Ref. Table #12
http://tinyurl.com/CA-income-tax-bar-chart
http://tinyurl.com/CA-2nd-CG
SALES TAX: CA has the highest state sales tax rate in the nation. 7.5% (does not include local sales taxes). Two 2015 bills sought a combined $10 billion++ CA state and local sales tax increase (failed to pass that year).
http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-and-local-sales-tax-rates-2011-2013
GAS TAX: CA has the nation’s 7th highest “gas pump” tax at 56.6 cents/gallon (November, 2016). But add in the unique 10-12 cent CA “cap and trade” cost per gallon, and CA is in the top 3 states (with PA and WA). National average is 48.9 cents. Yet CA has the 9th worst highways. NOTE: CA state legislature leaders are discussing a new additional 17 cents/gal gasoline tax.
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas/consumer-information/motor-fuel-taxes/gasoline-tax (CA roughly tied w/WA for highest total diesel tax)
and
http://reason.org/files/22nd_annual_highway_report.pdf
. . .
To read the full comparison, go to the link:
http://californiapolicycenter.org/unaffordable-california-it-doesnt-have-to-be-this-way-7/