Will Collier notes former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s famous tolerance for intellectual diversity:
Several years ago, upon being inaugurated as mayor of San Francisco, California uber-pol Willie Brown exulted, “The weather here is fine; there’s no snow and no Republicans.”
Doug Ross explores how that worked out:
| California | Texas | |
| Population Rank: | #1 | #2 |
| Joined the Union: | 1850, ceded by Mexico | 1845, ceded by Mexico |
| Hispanic Population: | About one-third | About one-third |
| Leadership over last 20 years: | Democrat, large government | GOP, small government |
| State legislature meets: | Year-round | Meets 90 days every two years |
| Net population change: | Outflow of 1,509,000 from 2000-2009 | Inflow of 1,600,000 from 2000-2009 |
| Average teacher salary: | $60,000/yr. | $41,744/yr. |
| ACT score rank: | #44 | #30 |
| 8th grade % proficient at writing rank: | #30 | #16 |
| 4th grade % proficient at math rank: | #26 | #16 |
| Tax Policy | 8.25% sales tax, up to 10.55% income tax | 6.25% sales tax, no income tax |
| Public sector unions: | Powerful. Spent $100,000,000 (in funds levied from taxpayers) defeating legislation that would weaken the Democrat-union alliance in 2005. | “Weak or non-existent”. |
| Bond Rating (an indicator of financial health) | S&P A- | S&P AA+ |
Based upon: Michael Barone, Washington Examiner.
Update: “California is likely to see modest job losses in the near term from its aggressive climate change policy due to higher energy costs and other factors, the state’s independent Legislative Analyst’s Office said.”
Add those “modest job losses” to the state’s “modest” 12.5 unemployment rate, approximately three percent higher than the national average, the latter of which, the Obama administration is “encouraged” by.
(Encouraged to do what, Rahm only knows.)
Just one minor correction in the chart — Texas isn’t paying their teachers $41,744/hr., since the people who run Austin can’t get elected to statewide office. If the pay was at that level, our property taxes would be a tad bit higher, and the teacher-to-student ratio would probably be about 20-to-1 in the other direction from every other state.
John,
Heh — fixed.
Ed
“Outflow of 1,509,000 from 2000-2009″
This “outflow” will only increase in the next few years. Roughly 500 Californians are leaving on a daily basis. The majority of them are likely purple and red state voters. California is only getting bluer. The elections in 2010 are probably the state’s last chance. However, I don’t get the impression most voters realize the danger. They seem far too nonchalant.
How many Californians remain in the state because of their inability to sell their property at a decent price? Will a large number of them finally throw in the towel and move anyway? It is going to get very interesting.
David Thompson:
Me.
I have a decent job as a programmer. A mortgage that matches what the house is worth (we bought in 2007 as the market was coming down and put 20% down). And our families are here.
My parents are retired and my in-laws are almost retired. If things change too much then we’ll head out (I have family in Texas!).
Actually, a second correction may be needed. I think the ACT rankings you are showing aren’t scores, but percentage of students taking the ACT. California is ranked 13th in composite scores, Texas is 40th.
So the population and inflow/outflow numbers don’t cover illegals?
i just moved to Texas and there are a couple of things you’re wrong about in re: taxation. First, we may not have a state income tax, but they ding you on everything else to make up for it, particularly if you’re new to the state. I suspect it evens out, but it hurts when you first move here. For example, licensing a business through the state comptroller (which you have to do before you are allowed to set up a business checking account in the state)costs $300. I’ve had businesses in three states and have never paid so much to register before. On the personal side of things, when you register your car, you have to pay a $90 “newcomer fee.” You also have to pay more for drivers’ licenses etc., if you’re new to the state.
Also, the state sales tax may be 6.25%, but every municipality and county adds on their percentages and the average is 8.25%.
Dang, Bob, way to ruin a perfectly awesome visual.
I really wish people would stop telling everyone how great Texas is. We are getting a tad overcrowded with liberals coming here to bring their brand of government to us.
So California cherry-picks their graduates, testing only the highest-achieving ones to keep their scores inflated.
For example, licensing a business through the state comptroller (which you have to do before you are allowed to set up a business checking account in the state)costs $300.
You don’t have to “license” a business. The fee you are referring to is filing for it to be incorporated. You can run a business as sole proprietor or partnership and their is no fee involved.
That’ll be the day I go back to Annandale.
If you dive into the ACT score actual values, they pan out like this:
Testing %:
California – 15% of graduates are tested
Texas – 20% of graduates are tested.
Composite Scores:
California – Avg: 22.1
Texas – Avg: 20.5
So what we are really talking about is that California leads Texas by 0.6 points on average, although that only includes half as many students as Texas does.
I think the bottom line is Texas still leads in educational result especially when you consider the different in cost per student.
I’m not Texas was “ceded by Mexico” unless you consider independence following an ass-whooping being “ceded”.
Oops – typo on Texas testing % – it is actually 30%. Sorry.
One thing not mentioned is how affordable housing is here.
I moved here last year from the DC area. My 900 sq ft condo there is priced at $340K now.
I bought a 2700 sq ft house here in San Antonio, for less than $300K.
Middle class people can live really well here in Texas, whereas in liberal states they can’t, that’s the bottom line.
The people fleeing California aren’t necessarily all that conservative if the people in Texas don’t stay on top of things they’ll do the same thing to that state that they did to Colorado and Oregon
California has an $800 annual fee for a single-owner LLC.
If Texas was ‘ceded by Mexico,’ then the USA was ceded by Great Britain. Texas defeated Mexico in a War of Independence. Remember the Alamo.
God Bless Texas!
My house in Austin still is worth $200K more than my first & second mortgage combined.
Good schools, good weather, nice people, and everyone has lots of guns.
I’ve been to SoCal one time in my life. And I won’t be going back. The transportation infratstructure there is pathetic when compared to Texas. Driving on the I5 through LA is almost like being in a 3rd world country. We ought to deploy sniper teams along the whole thing.
As a conservative here in CA, I’m telling all my liberal friends how much Texas needs them to move there, so that they can “civilize” it.
I leave the rest up to my gun-toting brethren in Texas – I’ve flushed the game. You do the rest.
You’ll note the outflow from California is, unfortunately moving to Texas.
I have several neighbors from Cali in my Lakeway neighborhood that can’t believe how “backward” Texas public sector funding and services are.
Any attempts to remind them that they left the smoking hole on the west coast formerly known as California precisely because of its aggressive/progressive taxing and spending ways are typically waved off as right wing nuttery by these D-bags.
Hopefully we can convert them into actual Texans before they ruin the state.
re: CA’ans moving to TX. I guess that’s where Farouk Shami got his 10% from in the primaries…
You can -2 that on Kalifornia. Wife and I are leaving this summer when she retires. Hello Arizona!
Texas Legislature meets for 180 days, not 90.
I recently moved from Southern California to Texas. Thank you Texas for having me. I do not have liberal roots. And, I will not support liberal tax and spending. I came to Texas because of who you are. I like it, and I will help keep it the way it is.
Again, Thank you Texas for having me. I hope I live up to the Texan way.
By the way, There are alot of conservitives out in California. Please try San Diego instead of LA,spit, or San Francisco,vomit.
The conservitive out there are just drowned out by the save everything except civilization crowd that dominate the politics.
I wouldn’t say I’m actively looking for an exit from California, though the thought’s occurred to me. All the wife’s family is here so it’s an uphill battle on that front.
On that sales tax number, local jurisdictions here in CA add their own grab, things are closing in on 10% around the Bay Area.
Any comparison of tax rates etc. needs to include personal and real property taxes.
I grew up in Austin and I have to say it is extremely expensive to live there now. Traffic is like DC too. Toll roads, added fees–I bought an old 18 year old non-running car from a friend last year for $100; when I registered they said the State considered it worth $750 even though I had a notarized sales receipt. I had to pay tax on $750. There is plenty of bullshit in Texas that didn’t used to be there.
Texas fought and won a war for independence from Mexico. Texas was a country with it’s own President, prior to joining the Union. The Texas flag is the only state flag flown at an equal height to the US flag. Our state capital is frequently used as a stand in for the US capital in movies and our rotunda is taller.
Texas is a right to work state and in certain professions, unionization is prohibited by state law (teachers are on the short list). While the state sales tax is 6.25%, additions by municipals cannot cause the rate to exceed 8.25%.
Please do not send us any more residents from liberal states, we need more HEB’s not Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s around the state. And if I have to run over another underpowered Prius while pulling a loaded stock trailer with my F-350…. well, you get the picture!
My Mom was a 7th generation Texan. Her family came to Texas from Tennessee in 1824.
I live in CA and I am retiring shortly. Due to my Mom, I have Texas citizenship rights.
I know why I’m leaving, too.
Dammit, Ken, you bastid….. flushing libs our way like that is just wrong!!!
They’re not in season for another 2 months!
My daughter, son-in-law and grand kids moved to the Austin area about three years ago. Although devastating to my wife and I, in retrospect it seems like a very good move for a young family just starting out.
Although it’s true that there is no income tax, the high property taxes seem to more than make up for it. I’m guessing it’s a better state to start you life in than to end it as a soon to be retiree I would rather have low property taxes and a fair income tax.
It looks to me like you are listing, not ACT SCORES, but the ranking of “number of graduates tested.” It looks like when you look at the actual SCORES, California comes in at 13, with Texas a close 40! Average English testing Scores put Cali at 11, with texas at 47! Math: Cali 7th, Texas 36, Reading: Cali 19th, Texas 34th and Science: 29th, and 39th respectively. What was your point again?
A lost of the moving out of california is due also to the 3 strikes law. The criminals do not want to live here either at least in jail all the time.
Texas has a sales tax of 8.25%, and has for my entire life.
Additionally, the state legislature was majority Democrat until 2002, and had been majority Democrat since, oh, Reconstruction. But do note that Texas Democrats are often ideologically closer to more liberal states’ Republicans.
I’d like to see the source of those great CA education numbers. From what I remember, living here in CA, the schools are failing and those running for office know it. The truth of the matter is, California bonds are going to be junk bonds shortly, and Texas is the only state that has not be severely hit by the recession. Why? The government stays out of your business.
California has progressive tax laws that go after producers, while Texas has consumption taxes. Property tax, sales tax, and the like are consumption taxes. It means if you don’t want to pay taxes you don’t buy big stuff, where-as in California you simply need to make 100k (which in some areas is just barely making it) to reach the highest tax bracket of 10.5%, and add to that the lay-offs of teachers, police, CHP, and fire, as well as mandatory furlough Friday and the state is absolutely failing here. You can count myself and my son as part of the group leaving. Looking for a job else-where, and hoping Texas or Georgia.
CEDED BY MEXICO???
Independence in 1836, Annexation in 1845. Three Presidents of our own: Sam Houston (twice), Mirabeau B. Lamar, and Anson Jones. This doesn’t count David G. Burnet and Lorenzo De Zavala, interim President and Vice-President respectively.
We also operated the first steamship-of-war in North America. We fought two different wars with Mexico, our own Independence war and we assisted with the Republic of Yucatan’s independence struggle (we sent our tiny Navy).
We were not ceded by Mexico. We whooped Santa Anna and sent him packing.
People don’t understand how us Texans have so much pride in our state…. It’s not being arrogant or cocky but if your not from Texas you won’t understand. Sorry. Texas has it’s fair share of flakes, fruits and nuts but I’m Texan till I die or where ever the good Lord calls me. Hopefully he will keep me here ! LOL I hope all the Liberals stay away from Texas and if they do come here, don’t bring the non sense here ! We all have guns here and not afraid to use it !!! Texans don’t BS, we know our rights and our State Government and Politicians know their place here to…
I have been to Texas several times…. TEXAS IS AWESOME!
I live in the midwest (Indiana).. if I ever move.. its to Texas!
God Bless Texas!
Re: Post 30 above DIvy.
The statement ‘The Texas flag is the only state flag flown at an equal height to the US flag.’ is one I often hear in Texas but it is not true. Any state flag can be flown at the same height as the US flag. The US flag shuold always be dipslayed to the left (from the most likey viewing angl) – Title 10 US Code.It is a very nice flag though.
Texas would be wise to remember its history. Prior to the Alamo, the Mexicans thought all those outsiders moving in was a good idea. Maybe our border checkpoints are oriented the wrong way.
Why is it that California contributes more in Federal taxes than it consumes, while Texas is a debtor state? Why doesn’t Texas pull it’s own weight?
PM needs a better class of trolls. Texas is also a net provider of money to the federal government: http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22685.html
Actually the link brings up another interesting fact. TX has NEVER been a net recipient of federal dollars, while California spent most of the mid-80s sucking up government money far more than it paid.
Best of all we actually have a working death penalty. Male or female you screw up end up on death row it happens
People in Los Angeles will need to be moving as the Greenies are going to be shutting down the water sources. The plan is to turn California back to what it was in the year 1500. Check out the Wildlands Project and UN Agenda 21.