> And yet Californians pay enormous taxes. Part of this is because California is the most populous state with a high average personal income. When talking abo

> And yet Californians pay enormous taxes. Part of this is because California is the most populous state with a high average personal income. When talking about actual tax burden averages the best way to calculate is by dividing the total state and local taxes by the total income in the state. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/state-and-local-tax-revenue-percentage-personal-income https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/state-and-local-t... In 2020 the total tax rate in California was 10.01% of total personal income. This put it at 37th place among the US states, and 0.52% above the US average. For the other most populous states, Texas was at 8.56%, Florida at 7.21%, and New York at 13.92%. The cheapest state was Alaska at 7.13% (with Florida the second cheapest), and the most expensive state was New York (with Hawaii the second most expensive at 13.16%). Some of this data is confounded by state revenues not being solely from taxes (or especially from personal taxes). Regardless though, California isn't that much above average, and is one of 30 states with a graduated state income tax that hits higher earners harder than lower earners, whereas 11 states have a flat tax structure.