I'm Going Back To Cali....I Don't Think So
Okay, lame LL Cool J lyrics aside, this is an important post. What do Tiger Woods, Scott McCarron, and Natalie Gulbis have in common? Besides being highly-paid golfers, they've all left the state of California because of its punitive tax rates. Tiger went to tax-free Florida while Gulbis and McCarron went to tax-free Nevada. Excerpt from a news report: bq. Republican Assemblyman Ray Haynes said, "I know of at least one accountant--mine--that is counseling his wealthier clients to set up residence in Nevada. He tells them that they can pay cash for a house based on the savings on income taxes from living in Nevada, not California." bq. Haynes believes California is at a "tipping point" where new taxes will drive rich residents to income-tax-free states like Nevada, Florida and Texas. But raising taxes on the rich is exactly what Democratic Assemblywoman Wilma Chan proposed earlier this year in Assembly Bill 6. The bill would reinstate the 10-percent and 11-percent personal income tax on the state's high-income taxpayers, specifically appropriating the additional revenues to support K-12 and community-college education programs. But some people refuse to believe that incentives matter. Check this out: bq. "I have not run into one individual in my district who doesn't like the idea of paying a little more in taxes to shore up the education system," said Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz, who represents some of the more well-to-do parts of Los Angeles, including Beverly Hills. "I don't believe there is a chance in hell that there will be an exodus of millionaires because they are paying a tiny fraction more in taxes." It is reported that Koretz make this statement after covering his ears and yelling, "Mumm, mumm, mumm, I can't hear you..." while being told of the departures of Woods, McCarron, and Gublis. UPDATE (05-08-20): Curtis Dubay at the Tax Foundation has more on California's hellish tax environment.
