How do people in California deal with the high taxes? (Sunnyvale: low income, credit)

[yeahthatguy]

Originally Posted by user_id

Deal with what? Taxes on lower and middle income folks (80+% of the state) are relatively low, it is only the top 10~20% that gets hit harder than most other states.

> Sales tax is paid equally by all and is a flat rate..
> Property tax is paid equally by all and is a flat rate...
> Car registration fees are excised based on Car's Value .. Applied based on how much monies you had to buy a nice car.
> California's Corporate Income Tax Rate is the Highest in the West
Corporations looking to relocate, or even establish, a business in the West may shy away from California, as the state's 8.84% flat rate is the highest corporate tax rate in the West..
Corporate tax rates
Entity type Tax rate
Corporations other than banks and financials 8.84%
Banks and financials 10.84%
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) rate 6.65%
S corporation rate 1.5%
S corporation bank and financial rate 3.5%


And the wonderful income tax :
If you're single :
If the taxable income is
Over But not over Tax is Of amount over
$0 $6,827 $0.00 Plus 1% $0
$6,827 $16,185 $68.27 Plus 2% $6,827
$16,185 $25,544 $255.43 Plus 4% $16,185
$25,544 $35,460 $629.79 Plus 6% $25,544
$35,460 $44,814 $1,224.75 Plus 8% $35,460
$44,814 And over $1,973.07 Plus 9.3% $44,814

Make over $44k? welcome to the baller tax rate tier .. You've got lots of money mr.poor class .. start paying top tier rates...

Oh, you made income via investments ... Capital gains huh that get a special federal discount rate? Oh no worries, you can pay the top rate in California.. Federal charges you 15%? We'll charge you the top income bracket rate if you make over $44k .. so slap on another 9.3% of tax on capital gains...

You live in California, where the top ordinary bracket for state income tax is 9.3%. Your federal long-term capital gains tax rate is 15%, and California's long-term capital gains tax rate is the same as it is for ordinary income: 9.3%

But nah don't worry.. This is nothing serious.. Others are paying more.. So don't get all bent outta shape..

* This message wasn't intended for foolish rebuttal from user_id but to provide the community w/ more data/information behind the commentary as user_id's usually lacks it.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

And the wonderful income tax :
If you're single :
If the taxable income is
Over But not over Tax is Of amount over
$0 $6,827 $0.00 Plus 1% $0
$6,827 $16,185 $68.27 Plus 2% $6,827
$16,185 $25,544 $255.43 Plus 4% $16,185
$25,544 $35,460 $629.79 Plus 6% $25,544
$35,460 $44,814 $1,224.75 Plus 8% $35,460
$44,814 And over $1,973.07 Plus 9.3% $44,814

Make over $44k? welcome to the baller tax rate tier .. You've got lots of money mr.poor class .. start paying top tier rates...

To be fair, those are taxable incomes which are quite a bit lower than actual income since CA's tax forms use your Federal AGI as a starting point.

[yeahthatguy]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

To be fair, those are taxable incomes which are quite a bit lower than actual income since CA's tax forms use your Federal AGI as a starting point.

Fair enough.. Thanks for pointing this out ! .. The overall theme though is that a decent middle class person is going to pay the same %'age rate across the board as the rich person...
But the rich pay more.. sure, they have more to tax.. they still pay the same percentage as a middle class person would though...and when you have less, every penny that is taken out is felt even more.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

You should look at the disaster that is becoming of Europe due to their wonderful form of taxation/government.

Except of course the problems in Greece have nothing to do with their social model and level of taxation, other European countries with even larger social models are doing just fine (Sweden, Norway, Germany, etc).

Canadians don't want our health care system, in fact, nobody does.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

And the wonderful income tax :
If you're single :
If the taxable income is
Over But not over Tax is Of amount over
$0 $6,827 $0.00 Plus 1% $0
$6,827 $16,185 $68.27 Plus 2% $6,827
$16,185 $25,544 $255.43 Plus 4% $16,185
$25,544 $35,460 $629.79 Plus 6% $25,544
$35,460 $44,814 $1,224.75 Plus 8% $35,460
$44,814 And over $1,973.07 Plus 9.3% $44,814

Yep....a highly progressive income tax...hence why lower and mid income folks don't end up buying much in income taxes.

You're also trying to be misleading, that or you've never done your taxes, California income tax starts from your federal AGI and there are numerous California deductions and credits that reduce your overall tax burden. You also seem to not understand how bracketed tax systems work, in the above it is only income above $44,814 that is taxed at 9.3%. Someone making $44,814 won't pay 9.3% on any of their income.

California has a progressive tax model, it taxes its low/mid income folks lightly and its higher income folks more aggressively. The states with lower overall tax burdens usually have a more or less flat tax system, that is, they but the burden more on low/mid income folks.

[bmd69]

Originally Posted by mt971x

The state tax, and income tax, etc...

how bad is it really? I already know CA is an expensive place to live, but.

How do people deal with it, and afford such a high cost of living? and such ridiculous taxes?

I guess you haven't live back east like Jersey and NY. Now that's HIGH!

[jeffredo]

Its not tremendously different here than most places in the NE, MW and even other Western States. Incomes are generally higher here than most of the country and since the "bubble burst" home prices are a lot better than they were (and property tax rates are lower than many states). I'm not denying California is still more expensive than many Southern and Mountain states, but if its your home and you have a good job life isn't too bad.

[smdensbcs]

The one tax that truly, deeply annoyed me was the property tax which, when I moved back to CA a decade or so ago, was roughly 3x what I was paying in CO on a home of comparative value, and roughly 20x what my next-door neighbors were paying who presumably voted for Prop 13 back in the 1970's (when I was an elementary school kid not yet eligible to vote on the issue of whether I wanted my taxes to eventually be 20X that of my parent's generation).

For that and other reasons, I only lasted 2 years in my beloved state of origin before moving out yet again. Now, my property taxes are back down below what it would cost to rent a small apartment.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

The one tax that truly, deeply annoyed me was the property tax which, when I moved back to CA a decade or so ago, was roughly 3x what I was paying in CO on a home of comparative value, and roughly 20x what my next-door neighbors were paying who presumably voted for Prop 13 back in the 1970's (when I was an elementary school kid not yet eligible to vote on the issue of whether I wanted my taxes to eventually be 20X that of my parent's generation).

huh? California has low property taxes, they are lower than Colorado.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by user_id

Canadians don't want our health care system, in fact, nobody does.

I want some form of Universal Health Care, but I dont want Canada's.