High taxes for thee but not for me
Everybody knows that California is a “high-tax” state, right? Well, yes and no. Depends on where you are on the food chain.
If your household is the top 1%, then California tax rates are 2nd highest, while Texas and Florida are 43rd and 50th, respectively.
OTOH, if your household income is in the second quintile as a % of family income, things change:
“California is about average, with a tax rate lower than either Texas or Florida. Texas has the ninth highest tax rate in the country if you’re working class.”
There are at least ten red states with tax rates higher than California for working class families. Why doesn’t the MSM publish this? Because their overlords are in the top 1%?
Kevin Drum has the receipts:
Tax rates in California, Texas, and Florida
If your household is the top 1%, then California tax rates are 2nd highest, while Texas and Florida are 43rd and 50th, respectively.
OTOH, if your household income is in the second quintile as a % of family income, things change:
“California is about average, with a tax rate lower than either Texas or Florida. Texas has the ninth highest tax rate in the country if you’re working class.”
There are at least ten red states with tax rates higher than California for working class families. Why doesn’t the MSM publish this? Because their overlords are in the top 1%?
Kevin Drum has the receipts:
Tax rates in California, Texas, and Florida
I do my kids taxes every year, they make less than 50k in taxable reported income on average. The Feds take 10% minimum in addition to SS and Medicare. Their California tax bills are very, very low and sometimes they get refunds even though they did not pay a dime in tax. Now when you make more, they take more but at the low end, this is a very low tax state.
woolley
Social Security is not a tax.you get your money back with interest. At the low end neither is Medicare. It is insurance…if you are lucky you don’t get your money back. If your luck is bad you get a lot more than your money back.
Yes, I know that SS is called a tax, but look at what it does. It is called a tax because that’s what the Supreme Court in 1936 said it had to be in order to be Constitutional.
As for California taxes…I think it was their property tax that started the tax revolution. Have no idea how that figures in today.
The spin you, and this website (but largely you), tries to put on basic data is egregious. How about you look at state budgets, deficits, economic growth for CA, TX and FL? You once again cherry pick data that didn’t mean your hypothesis, so you change the equation of which it is judged. AB is terrible in virtually everything they espouse – please stop your feed to zero hedge, which provides relevant info on economics, politics and investing.
TC: AB is terrible in virtually everything they espouse. Hmmm, No.
@TC,
So other than trolling, do you have anything to say about my post? We don’t feed trolls here at AB. We ban them. This is your only warning.
The top CA marginal rates are high. The rich pay those rates. The rich should be able to afford those rates. Their federal tax rates are almost nonexistent compared to 70 years ago.
In addition to a progressive income tax structure, California does not tax Social Security benefits at all. Nor do they collect sales tax on food that has not been prepared. Both of those things will benefit the lower income seniors and those who can cook their own food.
Jane E
I believe in progressive taxes myself. But what they were paying the bill for WW2 is not relevant to what they should be today. It is important to understand this, because if it’s just a feeling that the rich should pay for everything you have an unwinnable war. If you can reach a point where you can make a case for a particular level of taxation based on the needs of the time, you have a better chance of getting “the rich” to agree with you. Not ignoring greed among the rich here, just a better chance of getting the less greedly to see your point.
As well as keeping the rest of us honest about what we “demand.”
Coberly:
I read a book also. It was about people who can not take the hint their comments are abusive and unnecessary. Leave other people alone with your complaints of unfairness. This is not a discussion, cease . . .