State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2024
Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for more than a third of state tax collections. How do income taxes compare in your state?
8 min readHow does California’s tax code compare? California has a graduated state individual income tax, with rates ranging from 1.00 percent to 13.30 percent. California has a 8.84 percent corporate income tax rate. California has a 7.25 percent state sales tax rate, a max local sales tax rate of 4.75 percent, and an average combined state and local sales tax rate of 8.85 percent. California has the highest gas tax rate in the nation at 77.90 cents per gallon. California’s tax system ranks 48th overall on our 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index.
Each state’s tax code is a multifaceted system with many moving parts, and California is no exception. The first step towards understanding California’s tax code is knowing the basics. How does California collect tax revenue? Click the tabs below to learn more! You can also explore our state tax maps, which are compiled from our annual publication, Facts & Figures: How Does Your State Compare?


Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for more than a third of state tax collections. How do income taxes compare in your state?
8 min read


Graduated corporate rates are inequitable—that is, the size of a corporation bears no necessary relation to the income levels of the owners.
7 min read


Retail sales taxes are an essential part of most states’ revenue toolkits, responsible for 32 percent of state tax collections and 13 percent of local tax collections (24 percent of combined collections).
9 min read

Facts & Figures serves as a one-stop state tax data resource that compares all 50 states on over 40 measures of tax rates, collections, burdens, and more.
2 min read

In recognition of the fact that there are better and worse ways to raise revenue, our Index focuses on how state tax revenue is raised, not how much. The rankings, therefore, reflect how well states structure their tax systems.
111 min read

The mix of tax sources states choose can have important implications for both revenue stability and economic growth, and the many variations across states are indicative of the different ways states weigh competing policy goals.
29 min read

Does your state have a small business exemption for machinery and equipment?
3 min read

Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for more than a third of state tax collections. How do income taxes compare in your state?
8 min read

In 2021 and 2022 alone, more states enacted laws converting graduated-rate individual income tax structures into single-rate income tax structures than did so in the whole 108-year history of state income taxation up until that point.
10 min read

Working from home is great. The tax complications? Not so much.
4 min read

One particular provision of the Biden administration’s proposal to ban so-called “junk fees” would have unintended consequences.
5 min read


Retail sales taxes are an essential part of most states’ revenue toolkits, responsible for 32 percent of state tax collections and 13 percent of local tax collections (24 percent of combined collections).
9 min read


Graduated corporate rates are inequitable—that is, the size of a corporation bears no necessary relation to the income levels of the owners.
7 min read

The pandemic has accelerated changes to the way we live and work, making it far easier for people to move—and they have. As states work to maintain their competitive advantage, they should pay attention to where people are moving, and try to understand why.
5 min read

Thirty-four states will ring in the new year with notable tax changes, including 15 states cutting individual or corporate income taxes (and some cutting both).
17 min read

Marijuana taxation is one of the hottest policy issues in the United States. Twenty-one states have implemented legislation to legalize and tax recreational marijuana sales.
16 min read