California has the highest state sales tax rate in the nation. 7.25% (as of 1 July, 2011 – does not include local sales taxes). http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp60.pdf Table #15
California has the highest corporate income tax rate (8.84%) west of the Mississippi (our economic competitors) except for Alaska. http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp59.pdf Table #8 – we are 8th highest nationwide.
California has the 2nd highest gas tax (averaging 67.0 cents/gallon) in the nation (January, 2012). National average is 48.8 cents. http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/ (also CA has the nation’s highest diesel tax – 75.9 cents/gallon. Nat’l average 54.0 cents)
California is ranked 14th highest in per capita property taxes (including commercial) – the only major tax where we are not in the worst ten states. But CA property taxes per owner-occupied home were the 10th highest in the nation in 2009. http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/251.html and http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/1913.html
California has now instituted the highest “cap and trade” tax in the nation – indeed, the ONLY such U.S. tax. One study estimates the annual cost at $3,857 per household by 2020. Even proponents concede that it will have zero impact on global warming.
http://tinyurl.com/WSJ-CA-cap-and-trade
California’s 2012 “Tax Freedom Day” (the day the average taxpayer stops working for government and starts working for himself) is the 11th worst date in the nation – up from 28th worst in 1994, but down from 4th worst in 2009. CA “improved” primarily because of our state’s soaring unemployment rate – the new tax dodge! http://taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday
California has the 3rd highest state unemployment rate. (March, 2012) – 11.0%. National unemployment rate 8.2%. National unemployment rate not including CA is only 7.8%, making the CA unemployment rate 40.7% higher than the average of the other 49 states. http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
California needlessly licenses more occupations than any state – 177, making it more difficult for people to engage in productive activity and start businesses. The second worst state is Connecticut at 155. The average for the states is 92. http://cssrc.us/publications.aspx?id=7707
California had the worst net business creation in the nation in 2010. California had the most net new business establishments in 2009 (more than 12,500) and 2008 (32,000-plus); in fact, it ranked either first or second from 2001 to 2009. But the Golden State sank all the way to 50th in 2010 with more than 4,600 fewer new establishments than the previous year. http://www.economicmodeling.com/2011/08/20/data-spotlight-net-business-creation-by-state/
California’s overall high-tech employment fell by almost 4 percent during the last decade, while other states grew (like Texas’s science-based employment which grew by a healthy 11 percent). http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/31/why-california-is-no-longer-the-golden-state.html
California’s 2012 Business Tax Climate ranks 3rd worst in the nation – only New Jersey and New York state rank worse. http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22658.htm
California boasts some of the nation’s highest spending and worst performing school districts. For the 2007-08 school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District spent $29,780 per student. The district also has the country’s second lowest graduation rate of 40.6%. http://www.calwatchdog.com/2010/08/20/lausd-spends-30k-per-student/
California public school teachers the highest paid in the nation, producing some of the worst results. CA students rank 48th in math achievement, 49th in reading. http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2011/calfacts/calfacts_010511.aspx page 36
California’s biggest cities boast some of the highest percentages of public aid populations in the nation. 1 in 5 in Los Angeles County receiving public aid. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-welfare22-2009feb22,0,4377048.story
California has 12% of the nation’s population, but 36% of the country’s TANF (“Temporary” Assistance for Needy Families) welfare recipients – more than the next 7 states combined. Unlike other states, this “temporary” assistance becomes much more permanent in CA. http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/archives/034662.html
California prison guards highest paid in the nation. http://www.caltax.org/caltaxletter/2008/101708_fraud1.htm
California pays one dollar to D.C., we get back 78 cents. We rank 7th worst. http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/266.html
California is the worst ranked state for tax administration – another anti-business factor. http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/2010/03/cal-rated-worst.html
California now has the 2nd lowest bond rating of any state – Basket case Illinois just beat us out for the lowest spot. We didn’t improve our rating – Illinois just got worse. http://www.calwhine.com/great-news-california-no-longer-has-worst-credit-rating/1554/
California has the 6th highest (worst) state per capita debt. Not counted is local government debt (which makes it even more of a disaster).http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/24/states-debt-combined-may-exceed-4-trillion_n_1029162.html
California ranks as the worst state for businesses in regard to potential litigation, and a “judicial hellhole” by The American Tort Reform Association – “extremely anti-business.” http://tinyurl.com/CA-worst-judicial-state
California tickets are incredibly high. Red-light camera ticket $480. Next highest state is $250. Most are around $100.http://reason.org/blog/show/red-light-cameras-and-the-enigmatic
California is tied with 3 other states (Hawaii, Texas[!] and Florida) for having by far the least competitive property & casualty insurance markets. http://heartland.org/policy-documents/heartland-institute-releases-new-property-casualty-insurance-report-card
California has the nation’s highest anti-small business $800 minimum corporate income tax, even if no profit is earned, and even for many nonprofits. Next highest state is Oregon at $150. A few others under $100, with most at zero. http://tinyurl.com/CA-800-tax
California is ranked by America’s top 650 CEO’s as “the worst state in which to do business” for the 8th straight year (May, 2012). http://chiefexecutive.net/best-worst-states-for-business-2012 (It’s worth reading the short article, and especially the part about California.)
California, a completely destitute state, still gives away college education at fire sale prices. Our community college tuition is the lowest in the nation. How low? Nationwide, the average community college tuition is about three times higher than California CC’s. http://www.hecb.wa.gov/research/issues/documents/TuitionandFees2009-10Report-Final.pdf (Chart 5 on p.8 ) This ridiculously low tuition devalues education to students – resulting in a 30+% drop rate for class completion. In addition, 2/3 of California CC students pay no net tuition at all – either filling out a simple unverified “hardship” form that exempts them from any tuition payment, or receiving grants and tax credits for their full tuition.http://tinyurl.com/ygqz9ls
California offers thousands of absolutely free adult continuing education classes – a sop to the upper middle class. In San Diego, over 1,400 classes for everything from baking pastries to ballroom dancing are offered totally at taxpayer expense. http://www.sdce.edu
California’s UC system (University of California) system charges no tuition to families with under $80K in income. Protests about increased UC student fees too often ignore one crucial point – all poor and many middle class students don’t pay the “fees” (our state’s euphemism for tuition). There are no fees for California families with under $80K income. Moreover, Pell Grants and federal tuition tax credits covered the total 2009-10 fee increases for nearly 3/4 of all undergraduates with household incomes below $180K. http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/blueandgold/ and http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/22415
California residential electricity costs an average of 29.2% more than the national average (significantly higher in San Diego and Orange counties). For industrial use, CA electricity is 59.8% higher than the national average (average for 2011). http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html
California cities have some of the highest water costs in the nation. A 2011 survey of home water bills for the 20 largest U.S. cities found that for 200 gallons a day usage, San Diego was the highest cost. At 400 gal/day, San Diego was third highest. http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/allstats590.jpg
California has only 1.6% of nation’s industrial growth / expansion compared to 12% of nation’s population. From 2007 through 2010, 10,763 industrial facilities were built or expanded across the country — but only 176 of those were in CA. So with roughly 12% of the nation’s population, CA got 1.6% of the built or expanded industrial facilities. http://podcasts.odiogo.com/city-journal/podcasts-xml.php California Manufacturers and Technology Association podcast
California is now ranked as the 2nd worst state to retire in. Only basket-case Illinois is worse. We “beat” NY, RI and NJ. http://www.topretirements.com/blog/great-towns/our-worst-states-to-retire-list.html/
California has incredibly high net domestic out-migration of productive citizens. Consider California’s net domestic migration (migration between states). From April, 2000 through June, 2008 (8 years, 2 months) California has lost a NET 1.4 million people. The cumulative net annual income lost from this 8 year out-migration comes to about $26 billion. Net departures slowed in 2008 only because people couldn’t sell their homes. But in 2010 the loss resumed — we lost 154,000 net people to domestic out-migration. Again, note that this is NET loss.http://www.mdp.state.md.us/msdc/Pop_estimate/Estimate_08/table5.pdf and http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/12/californias-population-still-growing-but-much-more-slowly.html and http://interactive.taxfoundation.org/migration/
These are not welfare kings and queens departing. They are the young, the educated, the productive, the ambitious, the wealthy (such as Tiger Woods) – and retirees seeking to make their pensions provide more bang for the buck. Too often these departing seniors are retired state and local government employees fleeing the state that provides them with their opulent pensions – in order to avoid the high taxes that these same employees pushed so hard through their unions. And once they move out of California, our state can no longer tax their California-paid pensions.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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