California Sales & Excise tax is 3.16%??? Does not make any sense.
The statewide rate is 7.25% and Towns and Counties levy their own taxes on top of that. Alameda County is 10.25%. Los Angeles County is 9.25%. Santa Clara County is 9.125%. I’d guess 80% of the California population is paying 9% or more.
When I moved to California in 1973, it was 3%. There was an extra “BART Tax” added in Santa Clara County that brought it up to 3.5%. We never got BART.
The thing that hacks me off about Sales Tax is that it is automatically indexed to inflation because it is on things you purchase. So the increases from 3% to nearly 10% are very real and take a HUGE chunk out of your take-home pay. This hits young families the hardest when they are raising kids, buying furniture, cars, etc. We don’t spend much in retirement, so the hit isn’t that big, but the principal of the thing really galls me.
Last I I added all of the taxes I could find on the bottom of the yearly bills, it came to some 46% of my income.
So, I earn 2.00 to pay the government 1.00 dollar to spend that on stuff and save it. Then they tax what I earn on the savings as interest or gains, and then tax me 7% on what I spend buying stuff!