California Voters Appear to Favor Higher Taxes for the Wealthy

It’s no secret that California has one of the highest tax rates in the country, especially when it comes to the wealthiest taxpayers. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when back in 2012 residents voted in favor of Prop. 30, which installed a temporary income tax hike on the wealthy. Now fast-forward to 2016 and that proposition is set to expire.

However, those affected by the tax may not being seeing tax any relief anytime soon. That’s because this year’s ballot includes a new proposition that aims to keep those increases in place. Proposition 55, which would extend the temporary income taxes for all those who make more than $250,000 annually, reportedly has the backing of a majority of the state’s voters.

According to a recent survey amongst more than 3,000 registered California voters, 65.3 percent of the participants said they are in favor of extending the tax hikes. Seventy-eight percent of democrats supports the proposition, while only 46 percent of republicans support it.

The study also found that in general most voters felt that their current level of taxation was too high, with republicans outnumbering democrats in that category 73 percent to 50 percent. Time will tell how this turns out, but if these numbers are an accurate indication then it looks like come November California’s wealthiest residents won’t have much to celebrate when it comes to taxes.
http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/08/16/new-poll-californians-back-extending-taxes-on-wealthy-upping-cigarette-tax/