TL;DR This group pays 40% of the taxes on 23% of the wages and budget risk is that if something happens to those incomes it has an exaggerated effect and is dan

TL;DR This group pays 40% of the taxes on 23% of the wages and budget risk is that if something happens to those incomes it has an exaggerated effect and is dangerous. What people should focus on is the percentage of how much of the taxes these people pay. That should give you an idea of how lopsided taxation has become. The top 1% in California earn 23% of the wages and pay 40% of the taxes. This does not include real estate taxes which are some of the highest in the country. I know some say, they should. However understand when it gets lopsided it puts budgets at risk if the sources of those incomes take a dramatic shift or worse leave. So if the market tanks a lot of that income can dry up very fast. If the jobs economy moves towards remote working then businesses may not become as attached to swanky offices in expensive states moving two more sources out and further imperiling taxes. People don't truly understand how much their government costs them. California budget is over two hundred billion dollars. the majority is from payroll taxes followed by sales taxes; about half of what income taxes were; then fees and licenses, and then property taxes. There are some other sources in there but lets say 60:40:6:4 in percentages. California allocated nearly six billion towards issues related to COVID19 initially, not sure how much it has changed.