☆ Gov't finance consultant: Here's why (too) many residents are putting CA in the rearview

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Tom Rubin—boasting decades of experience assisting gov't agencies with capital, operational, and financial planning—is no stranger to the Golden State's outmigration crisis. Indeed, SJ lost 50k folks in just four years, losing its place in the top 10 most populated U.S. cities. For Opp Now, Rubin exclusively breaks down the tax/cost of living barriers excluding even longtime locals from CA living.

So many people are leaving California; it's disgraceful. The worst part is that they're often the most productive, highest tax-paying citizens—people we really want to stay for the sake of our innovation, economy, and culture.

Our tax base is set up to be extremely dependent on capital gains paid by residents with the highest incomes. But not all states have personal income or corporate income taxes (or, at least, rates as exorbitant as California's). Thus, many high-earning residents are departing California so they don't have to pay those capital gains. We've seen, especially in recent years, that a high income tax tends to be more problematic than sales taxes as far as motivating outmigration. [Editor's note: But lucky Californians, we don't have to choose—we pay both at outrageously high rates.]

People aren't just leaving California to get away from our high taxes. They're also finding it impossible to keep up with our cost of living, particularly in house buying. This is why it's hard to attract folks for jobs in California: they can't afford to live here. That's a sad reversal of the American Dream.

With these considerations, some counties (like Sonoma and Alameda) are really scrutinizing their housing bonds, which promise lofty things but may just exacerbate market affordability issues. They're realizing that many Californians can no longer justify living in the Golden State. And that government “solutions,” thus far, haven't done much.

Related:

• Perspective: CA’s outmigration epidemic has bad public policies to blame

• Insight: Silicon Valley's outmigration, cultural pressures make youth engagement tricky

• SF case study: “Progressive” policies tied to explosions of homelessness, safety crises, outmigration

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