State Income Taxes: Why California Sucks

When I headed west and moved to California a little over two years ago, I was fresh out of college and not at all worried about taxes. All I wanted was to move away from Chicago's bitter cold and into the Cali sun. At that point in my life I figured I'd be lucky to ever make $20k a year, and being in such a low income bracket, the income tax amount from state to state didn't make much difference.

Actually, at the time I didn't even realize that there was a difference per state in terms of income tax levels. I just thought that everyone in any state paid the same amount for state and federal taxes, just that the state taxes went to the state you lived in and federal went to Bush and his war.

Apparently - that's not correct at all. (Duh, me.) Each state has its own state income tax. Just my luck, California is the worst for income tax rates at my level of earnings.

Even New York and my home state of New Jersey would be cheaper when it comes to state taxes (although they're both ranked highly in the list of "expensive income taxes.")

For a yearly income of $50k - $60k (which is about what I expect to bring in over 2008)...

My state income tax rate & fee,
assuming an annual income of $55k:

California -- 9.3% or $5115
New York -- 6.85% or $3767.50
New Jersey -- 5.525% or $3038.75

I'm surprised at how expensive it is to live in Maine. 8.5% for anyone making $17k or more. Yikes. Who really wants to live in Maine anyway?