Nearly half of Bay Area residents say tax system not fair

The Public Policy Institute of California reports that more than half of Californians think their tax burden is unjust, and nearly half of the reliably-liberal Bay Area agrees.

Half of Californians (52%)—a record-high share—say that the state and local tax system is either not too fair (25%) or not at all fair (27%). This marks a 10-point increase since March 2017 and a 21-point increase since the first time we asked this question in June 2003. There are notable differences along partisan lines. More than two in three Republicans (69%) see the state and local tax system as not too or not at all fair, as do nearly six in ten independents (58%), compared to about four in ten Democrats (43%).

The belief that the system is not fair is widely held across regions, ranging from a high of 60% in the Inland Empire to 45% in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lower-income adults (46%) are somewhat less likely than more-affluent adults (60% $40,000 to $80,000, 54% $80,000 or more) to say that the current state and local tax system is not fair.

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