California Taxes Compared

California is reputed to be a high tax state. So I've prepared some tables to show whether or not this true. The bottom line is that California taxes are higher than most other states, but not by much. Here are two tables: the first shows the tax rate in dollars per million dollars of state GDP, the second shows tax rate per capita, both sorted in order from high to low.

State	Tax per $Million GDP		State	Tax per Capita
Alaska	103,384.2		Alaska	7,136
Vermont	98,485.4		Wyoming	5,316
Wyoming	78,267.1		Vermont	3,840
West Virginia	77,676.7		North Dakota	3,792
North Dakota	77,352.3		Connecticut	3,614
Arkansas	75,944.3		Hawaii	3,515
Hawaii	73,811.6		New York	3,345
Mississippi	70,980.9		Delaware	3,173
Maine	70,190.6		Minnesota	3,166
Montana	67,075.3		New Jersey	3,015
Minnesota	65,290.1		Massachusetts	2,930
Kentucky	62,361.2		California	2,653
Michigan	61,579.8		West Virginia	2,618
New Mexico	60,721.3		Arkansas	2,597
Wisconsin	60,270.2		Maine	2,571
Idaho	60,133.5		Maryland	2,562
Connecticut	59,801.9		Wisconsin	2,530
Indiana	58,463.7		Washington	2,508
New Jersey	57,242.6		Montana	2,485
New York	56,820.4		New Mexico	2,450
Oklahoma	55,724.0		Pennsylvania	2,390
Maryland	55,342.4		Kansas	2,386
California	54,694.5		Indiana	2,331
Rhode Island	54,602.3		Iowa	2,320
Kansas	54,547.2		Rhode Island	2,316
Pennsylvania	54,348.7		United States	2,305
Massachusetts	53,379.5		Kentucky	2,287
Iowa	51,467.8		Oklahoma	2,272
North Carolina	51,215.7		Ilinois	2,266
Washington	50,836.3		Nebraska	2,262
Ohio	50,799.6		Michigan	2,259
United States	50,486.6		North Carolina	2,193
Utah	49,398.9		Mississippi	2,192
Alabama	48,857.4		Louisiana	2,171
Nebraska	48,046.1		Idaho	2,090
Ilinois	46,186.7		Utah	2,090
Oregon	45,920.4		Ohio	2,069
South Carolina	45,695.4		Nevada	2,068
Delaware	45,384.5		Virginia	2,022
Arizona	45,200.4		Oregon	1,957
Louisiana	45,066.7		Alabama	1,807
Missouri	43,504.5		Colorado	1,797
Florida	42,945.8		Missouri	1,747
Nevada	42,399.2		South Dakota	1,696
Tennessee	41,417.8		Arizona	1,695
Virginia	40,801.2		Georgia	1,677
Georgia	40,421.6		Tennessee	1,676
South Dakota	36,089.6		Florida	1,660
New Hampshire	35,425.7		Texas	1,655
Colorado	34,926.5		South Carolina	1,607
Texas	33,335.9		New Hampshire	1,534

Here are links to spreadsheets for these tables:
Full data for comparison of states by tax rate per $Million GDP: Here
Full data for comparison of states by tax rate per capita: Here
Comparison of states by rate per $Million GDP (left table above): Here
Comparison of states by rate per Capita (right table above): Here

What's a Billion

We see more and more big numbers in the news, numbers so big that it's not easy to understand what they mean. A simple way to estimate the meaning is the cost to an individual American. Here are two simple ways to figure out what a billion dollars of U.S. Government expenditure means to such a person:

Way 1 (By the share of the population): The Bureau of the Census estimates the U.S. population to be 298,444,215. So if the Government spends $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars) your share of it is about $3.35:

     $3.35 = $1,000,000,000 / 298,444,215
           = A billion dollars divided by the population.

Say $3+1/3 per billion spent by the government.

Way 2 (By the share of the money): The Department of Commerce estimates the U.S. Gross Domestic Product to be about $13,220,000,000,000 ($13.22 trillion dollars). So if the Government spends $1,000,000,000 your share is about 7+1/2 cents for each thousand dollars you earn:

   $0.076 = ($1,000,000,000 / $13,220,000,000,000) * $1,000
          = A billion dollars share of the GDP times a thousand dollars.

Say seven and a half cents per thousand dollars earned per billion dollars spent by the Government.

As an example, what has the war in Iraq cost a somewhat prosperous family, of two people earning, $40,000 each? So far the appropriations for the war come to about $350,000,000,000 (three hundred billion)

Way 1:  350 Billion spent by the Government
          2 people
      $3.35 cost per billion spent
     $2,345 TOTAL = 350 * 2 * $3.35
     Not enough to buy a car, but enough to notice.

Way 2:  350 Billion spent by the Government
        $80 Family income in thousands
     $0.075 Cost per thousand earned per billion spent
      2,100 TOTAL = 350 * 80 * 0.075