Sunday, August 31, 2003

California's Tax Myth [San Francisco Chronicle]: Economics reporter Sam Zuckerman continues his excellent 'fact based' series on what's really up with the California economy. The widely held view that California is unusually harsh in taxing its  people -- which is echoing especially loudly in the state's gubernatorial  recall campaign -- is largely a myth. It turns out that California ranks a mere 19th out of all 50 states and the  District of Columbia in the tax burden it imposes on individuals and  businesses. Some statements get repeated so often -- by politicians, reporters and just plain folk -- that they come to be taken as gospel truth, even if that facts don't support them. 'Taxifornia' is one; Zuckerman's taken care of that one. 'High taxes driving business out of California' is another; it turns out that taxes are low on businesses'  list of complaints, Zuckerman reports. 'Americans are overtaxed' is yet another; but compare the numbers to other industrialized countries and clearly we're not (though there's an argument to be made over whether we get what we pay for). 'Best health care system in the world' shows the error from the other direction; the stats don't support that statement, despite our heroic medical technology. I should note that Sam is one of my oldest and best friends. But that doesn't stop me from recognizing real journalism when I see it. If only more of his brethren were willing to do their homework. Kudos to the Chronicle too -- an often insubstantial paper that's given him the running room to take on these myths. (Last week: Think a governor can fix the economy? Think again.) Now, if they'd only give him a few more inches, so he could back up statements like For businesses, tax levels are not particularly high, but tax regulation  can be burdensome. 8:37:15 AM    comment []  trackback []