California's tax system has a few longstanding weaknesses including volatility in its income tax and a sales tax system designed for the early 20th century economy. Also, like the federal government and other states, California has special deductions and exclusions in its income tax system that provide oversized breaks (subsidies) and upside down benefits to high income taxpayers. Upside down refers to a situation where if the government wanted to, for example, use funds to help taxpayers pay for something like housing or health insurance, they likely would provide higher payments to lower income individuals than higher income ones on the premise that the lower income individuals need greater assistance. However, when the assistance is provided in the income tax without any phaseout as income increases, higher income taxpayers get a bigger subsidy because their higher bracket provides a greater tax savings.
I had two short articles published this month that describe equity and logic issues with California's tax system and offer a few suggestions for improvement.
1. State tax law opportunities to address inequality - published in the Joint Venture Silicon Valley blog (11/6/24).
2. Apple Settlement Shows Why California Needs a Sales Tax Overhaul - published in Bloomberg's Tax Insights & Commentary (11/14/24)
I have been writing about these topics since I started this blog back in 2007 and they are not getting better. Encouraging broader understanding of the issues, possible improvements and how they can benefit many individuals as well as the economy, can hopefully encourage people to ask lawmakers to work on legislative improvements.
What do you think?