“How much do Californians pay in state and local taxes? Measured as a share of family income, California’s lowest-income families pay the most in taxes. The bottom fifth of the state’s non-elderly families, with an average income of $12,600, spent 11.1 percent of their income on state and local taxes. In comparison, the wealthiest 1 percent, with an average income of $2.3 million, spent 7.8 percent of their income on state and local taxes. … Higher-income families pay a larger share of their income in income taxes. Lower-income families pay a greater share of their income in sales and property taxes.”
—The California Budget Project. California Teacher 65.1 (Sept-Oct. 2011): 8-9. Quote on page 8.