Wealthy Californians Keep Paying More in Taxes
The tax numbers are in for the state of California and all signs point to the wealthy paying more than their fair share. With tax day now behind us it’s a key time to take a closer look into the real numbers in the Golden state, especially since income taxes account for more than 65 percent of the state’s revenue in the current budget year.
According to the latest number from the Franchise Tax Board, almost 90 percent of that tax revenue comes from just 20 percent of the taxpayers; those who make $91,000 or more. Taxpayers in that income range are the only taxpayers who have seen an average income increase during the past two years.
Meantime, the top 1 percent of taxpayers, those with an adjusted gross income of at least $501,000 paid close to half – 45 percent – of all state income tax revenue. Taxpayers in this bracket reported an average AGI of $1.6 million in 2013, which is nearly double the amount of the average AGI in 1994. Meanwhile, all other income brackets have seen a decline in their average AGI.
So what does all this mean for the state budget? The governor’s spending plan now expects that income tax revenue will be higher than what lawmakers originally expected when they passed the budget last year. However, that is not due to overall income growth, but rather because they expect higher-income taxpayers to see their income increase even more, which means they will pay higher marginal tax rates.
Community Leadership – Dave Smith, Former Newark Mayor
About Dave Smith Dave Smith grew up in humble circumstances in Michigan. He attended Michigan Tech University and upon graduating college he wound up in the plastics business as an industrial engineer which brought him out to California. In California he quickly became acquainted with the Jaycee’s organization which focused on community service and…
The Future of Venture Capital | Chris DiGiorgio
About Chris DiGiorgio Christopher DiGiorgio is an Executive Research Fellow (emeritus) at the Accenture Institute for High Performance. Before joining the Institute he had responsibility for Accenture’s overall practice in the Bay Area as the Managing Director with over 2300 professionals. Chris also previously led our High Tech practice in the Silicon Valley and lead…
Back to The Roots | Nikhil Arora
About Nikhil Arora Nikhil Arora co-founded Back to the Roots (Oakland, CA) in 2009 as a senior at UC Berkeley and gave up a potential career in consulting to become an urban mushroom farmer. Nikhil oversees the marketing and product development half of the business and along with his co-founder, Alejandro Velez, has led…
Creating a Better World | Steve Persanti
About Steve Persanti Steve Piersanti is president and publisher of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., a leading independent publisher of progressive books on current affairs, personal growth, and business and management. Berrett-Koehler pursues its mission of “Creating a World That Works for All” by publishing groundbreaking books that promote positive change at all levels – individual,…