Writing at American Greatness, another episode in the continuing saga of California mismanaging itself into a place the middle class cannot afford to live. The author basically documents the tax burden CA imposes on what elsewhere would be middle class families.
Income taxes are confiscatory, sales taxes of not quite 10 cents on the dollar, gas taxes that nearly double the price of fuel, property taxes based on the state’s extremely high real estate values, and more.
All of this done in the name of saving the environment from impending doom, and eradicating racism. The result is a neo-feudal society of the very wealthy elite, the well-paid government employees that Joel Kotkin calls the “clerisy,” and the masses of poor who benefit from costly government handouts for food, shelter, health care, etc.
The result has been a mass exodus of middle class families, on the order of 6-8 hundred thousand people per year for the last three years for which data is available. This because the average wage in CA is roughly half what would be required for a minimal middle class lifestyle.
Term-limited CA Governor Gavin Newsom would like to bring the “joys” of the CA model to the rest of the nation via a run for the presidency in 2028. As a CA emigre who pre-retirement job was as part of that “clerisy,” trust me - you don’t want and can’t afford to be Californicated.
