California has progressive taxes. That means the wealthy pay a higher tax rate than the middle class. The wealthy have gotten taxes raised on the middle class and lowered on the wealthy in most red states. So they continue to pay for a disinformation campaign that rails on California taxes.
But CA continues to carry the US in GDP. It has a tropical weather, that allows outdoor activities nearly year round, not found anywhere else in the US. It also has a lot of support for lower and middle class (this shows up in places like infant mortality rates).
But like almost everywhere else in the world, except countries like Japan and China that have addressed planning at a federal level, they have not built houses near fast enough to keep up with demand. So the cost of living is high (They have changed laws recently to try to partially address it). But if you make enough to live there it is a wonderful place to live.
