Thread: Calif. taxes high, but not the highest

Study: Calif. taxes high, but not the highest

February 15th, 2012, 2:51 pm
by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter

By some measures, California’s tax burden lands the state in the nation’s top 10 – but you can’t blame Sacramento alone for the ranking.

A study by the Tax Foundation found that the state’s state and local tax burden per person was $4,910 in 2009, sixth highest nationwide. (No. 1 is Connecticut at $7,256.) But local taxes were a key reason for California’s ranking being so high.

When you look at all state revenue – including taxes, fees, licenses, and intergovernmental revenue – the amount per person is $5,292, landing California at 24th highest nationwide.

But in the category including both state and local revenue, California’s amount jumps to $8,634 per capita – and the state’s ranking jumps to 13th highest.

California businesses, on the average, fare worse than individuals, according to the Tax Foundation. It ranks the state 48th in business tax climate, which it calculates based on a combination of corporate, income, sales, property and unemployment insurance taxes.

Property taxes are the biggest source of state and local tax revenue (31.8 percent), followed by sales tax (22 percent), individual income tax (26.2 percent), and corporate income tax (5.6 percent). All other taxes account for a 14.4 percent share.

The non-partisan, right-leaning Tax Foundation tends to take a more critical view of higher taxes than the non-partisan, left-leaning Tax Policy Center, although the data produced by both is well-regarded and neither group tends to find fault with the other’s statistics.

Study: Calif. taxes high, but not the highest - Total Buzz - The Orange County Register : The Orange County Register

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