Why I’m leaving California

Reviewing the cost of living, she first pointed out the ridiculous cost to buy a house. Since buying a home was out of the question for her, she settled on renting a one-bedroom apartment. In other parts of the country, that might have cost her $800 a month. In California, add another thousand dollars and you’re in the ballpark. Her bottom line was this: For rent, groceries and utilities, she needed to earn at least $60,000 per year before taxes.

Of course, when she discussed taxes, the first thing she pointed out was how California’s gas tax, already the highest in the country, increases year over year. The promise made to voters was it would pay for new blacktop and green energy. Why did we fall for that? As she opined, the roads are still in bad shape and the evidence of green energy is — where? In the rolling blackouts?

Included with her beef on taxes was the high income tax rates California lays on its citizens. Yet, not satisfied with having the highest taxes in the country, politicians in Sacramento are talking about raising them even higher. To her, that would be a tough pill to swallow because a third of her income already goes to pay state and federal income taxes.

As I wrote above, there are a lot of videos about leaving California and the reasons people are doing so. Let’s turn to another by a YouTuber who goes by “Uptin.”

A factor Uptin highlighted is homelessness. The encampments can be seen everywhere. There’s hardly a freeway overpass not serving as a campsite for tent and tarp structures. If one goes to the average city park, they are likely to encounter the same. In major cities from San Francisco to Los Angeles, many of the sidewalks are impassible. Tents, trash and human excrement block the way.

It’s a sad state of affairs. The people living this way are predominantly drug abusers, the mentally ill, or both. It’s not a good situation for them and it certainly is not good for the general public. It’s unsafe and unhealthy. Despite this, the population of the homeless continues to grow year after year and the state’s cities and urban areas are increasingly overrun with tent cities.

A third of the various videos I watched was Ben Shapiro’s, another native of the state who has decided to leave. Like those above, Shapiro discussed high taxes and the out-of-control homeless population. Additionally, he cited crime and the unwillingness of the state to enforce its own laws. California’s leniency toward criminals has had the inevitable effect of increasing crime rates.

Mr. Shapiro also called out the bad policies emanating from Sacramento as a reason for him and his company to leave the state. An example he gave was the law requiring “diversity” on corporate boards. Thankfully, the law was recently overturned by a judge after it was challenged in a lawsuit filed by “Judicial Watch.” The legislation proved to be unconstitutional. I would add, it also was burdensome lunacy.

So where are residents fleeing to when leaving California? One state is next door: Nevada, a state with no personal income tax. Another is Texas, a state with no personal or corporate income tax. Florida, Arizona, Colorado and Idaho are also popular choices. Since 2015, California has lost more than 100,000 residents per year to other states.

Is population loss a problem that should concern California? Not if all one is concerned about is the gross population number. California was a great place to live when I came here 40 years ago. Of course, the population was a lot less. However, in terms of demographics, it is a problem because who is leaving and who is staying is widening the divide between rich and poor. History has shown repeatedly, the loss of a state’s middle class spells disaster. California needs to address the obvious problems causing it to bleed citizens.

A former member of the San Carlos City Council and mayor, Matt Grocott has been involved in political policy on the Peninsula for 17 years. He can be reached by email at mattgrocott@comcast.net.