Quote Originally Posted by Suppressed Poet View Post
Great weather is certainly part of the equation as well as the other things you mentioned & more. You think those Silicon Valley folks pay for all that? Perhaps they fund a small portion of it. The real tax burden rests on those just over the poverty line to the living comfortably category. Middle class are the backbone of America and an absolute necessity for stability. Those people, and most especially small business owners in this group who get further taxed / regulated to death / shut down by Covid lockdowns / victims of theft & lawlessness / etc., have been raped & pillaged to the point it’s no longer sustainable to continue living there. Thus I say California is starting to resemble a society of feudalism with a few nobles & a lot of serfs.

It’s a shame too, because California is such a beautiful place with a vast amount of industry & natural resources. There is no reason for it to be that way.
Whoooa there, I think you're pretty damn off base with who you think pays the majority of taxes in California. The state has a largely progressive tax system, as a result more than 50% of the income taxes in the state of California comes from those earning more than 500k, 40% alone is from personal income taxes on earnings over $1M. People making over 500k a year being described as just 'living comfortably' naww. Only 8-9% of the state income taxes come from people making between 50-100k and less than 50k earnings contribute just 2%.

The concentration of wealth in the United States is top heavy due to massively regressive tax changes in this country. California has a progressive tax structure and is one of the largest economies in the world solely as a result of it's policies, resources, beauty and governance.