What Share of California Taxes Do the Richest Pay?

Kent Lindstrom says the richest 1 percent in California pay 40 percent of the taxes, and the richest 10 percent pay 70 percent. The load might not be enough, and it might not be fair.

A complaint about billionaires, pressed with whether life is worse because Taylor Swift is a billionaire or Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire, was really about Elon Musk. Taylor Swift being a billionaire does not make life worse. Taylor Swift and Oprah Winfrey accomplished a lot and made themselves wealthy. People had jobs on the Taylor Swift tour, but nobody else really got wealthy. When Apple or Amazon becomes worth a trillion dollars, thousands and thousands of employees are made economically whole and economically free, with economic stability for their families for years. Thousands and thousands of teachers have pensions that made money on Amazon or Apple, and wealth is generated in a 401k.

Presidents and presidential candidates have said the country basically should not tax the bottom 25 percent, because there is no money there. In California, rich people are paying all the taxes. In November, California votes on proposition 40, the billionaires tax.