If you're going to use terms like 'a lot' when dealing with financial topics it helps to offer real numbers backed up by sources so that comparisons can be made

If you're going to use terms like 'a lot' when dealing with financial topics it helps to offer real numbers backed up by sources so that comparisons can be made. It helps add specificity to points being discussed. So now, when I say "Yes, but a lot of that difference is due to California's own policies forcing higher costs of living -> forcing higher wages -> pushing incomes into higher federal tax brackets...therefore it is actually California's fault that their citizens get creamed on taxes" we could have a meaningful discussion as to what degree California's policies have such effects, and what levers could be manipulated to alter those effects. But sure, go with 'common knowledge' and remove any semblance of intellectualism in the discussion. Let's just make claims like we're on Reddit. > Do you not know how the US federal income tax system works? I do. I'm very aware that there is a substantial systemic interplay between economic conditions within a state and the downwind effects it has on the cost of living, taxation, and quality of life for citizens in that state. The interplay of the various systems at work is definitively not within the realm of 'common knowledge' even if this forum's demographics show higher than average education.