Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. -Accomplish hours of research in seconds -Instantly draft high-quality communications -Verify answers using a library of trusted tax content. Learn more

L.A. Times: Californians Preparing to Flee Nation’s Highest State Tax Burden?

As a temporary Californian, I found this article in the L.A. Times of interest:  Voting Away the Tax Base: Proposition 82 Failed, But Targeted Levies Have Some Fearing How the Wealthy Would React, by Tom Petruno:

To live in California is to pay the highest state income tax rate in the nation, if you’re wealthy enough. Last week, voters had a chance to raise that tax rate to new heights by approving Proposition 82. They declined. Did they figure that the Golden State’s rich were already thoroughly soaked — or did 82, which would have funded universal preschool for 4-year-olds, just not present a convincing enough case?

The question is important to Bob Rodriguez, a principal at money management firm First Pacific Advisors Inc. and someone who is in Proposition 82’s target demographic. He fears that the electorate may yet be willing to embrace more tax-the-rich propositions. He sees these ideas as fiscally calamitous in the long run because they may induce high-income people to move out of state to avoid the tax hit. Drive out enough of the rich, Rodriguez says, and the state will have no choice but to demand more tax revenue from people much further down the income scale. The 57-year-old Rodriguez says he would, in fact, have been driven out of his native state if Proposition 82 had passed. For months before the primary election, he told anyone who would listen that he would leave California if 82 were approved.

Nevada is right next door, after all, and it has no income tax, period. Proposition 82 would have raised California’s top tax to 12% from 10.3%. "I will not allow my assets to be expropriated," Rodriguez says.

(Hat Tip:  Tax Policy Blog.)


About the Author

Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. Blue J's generative AI tax research solution is transforming how tax experts work. Learn more.
Information and rates on advertising on TaxProf Blog

Discover more from TaxProf Blog

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading