Gavin Newsom takes on economists and the media to claim that residents pay more tax in Texas and Florida.

Photo above - California Governor Newsom photobombs the Yamaha music booth at Austin's SXSW music festival. During his campaign stop there the governor claimed Texans pay more in taxes than people in California.

I would never have predicted this. California Governor Gavin Newsom is launching his 2028 presidential bid . . . by campaigning AGAINST Texas and Florida. Usually, it’s not until the late stages of a campaign that candidates resort to trashing opposition voters as “losers” or “a basket full of deplorables”. Is Newsom writing off sunbelt voters as his first move? (see link below)

Candidate Newsom made his remarks at the SXSW film and music festival in Austin and followed up with Titter/X on full blast. Austin isn't exactly the heart of Texas, but still.

Newsom of course has a bachelors degree in Poli Sci and no credentials in economics or tax policy. Probably the people writing his campaign speeches don’t either. Hiis state budget problems and economic record as governor of California speaks for themselves.

In the opposite corner, there's an analysis by the nonprofit organization "Just the Facts". I hadn’t heard of this outfit, so I googled them. Frequently cited by major media, including PBS, CBS, Yahoo and Fox. But that’s no proof that Just the Facts is right. Those media outlets have their own checkered history with the truth.

Just the Facts conducted an analysis the actual tax burden. It turns the average person in California pays $10,000 a year, and in Texas it’s $5,000 a year. JTF theorizes that Newsom’s views arise from a distorted perception of middle-class incomes and spending through the lens of California career politicians.

It is well documented that income taxes and property taxes are lower almost everywhere than in California. Here in Florida we do have a painful sales tax. And it’s “regressive” - everyone pays the same rate on the stuff they buy at the store. But is taxing consumption actually worse than taxing someone's paycheck and bedroom? Anyway, I’m a renter, and I pay sales tax, gas tax, and a hotel tax if I ever go to one. If and when I buy a home, the property tax will be 1% of its assessed value, and I’m not expecting to win the lottery and score a half million-dollar home with a $5,000 tax bill.

In another forum someone is convinced that Kamala Harris is the 2028 democrat front runner. I doubt that. Newsom is dominating the media, and his campaign just attracted 100,000 new contributors who are incensed by ICE tactics and the war against Iran. I don’t know what Kamala is giving speeches about, but the media evidently isn’t covering it.

Irrespective of anyone’s feeling about local income and property taxes, those are NOT presidential campaign issues. The president is NOT going to issue an executive order raising or lowering your local taxes. That’s what state elections and officials are for. The US president DOES have the ability to address ongoing federal spending (military, entitlements) and one-offs like Covid 19 stimulus handouts or soybean price supports.

So far every president in recent memory has flubbed economics. Our national debt is over $38 trillion, and it’s increasing by $250 million an hour, night and day. We already pay $1 trillion a year in interest, and this seems likely to zoom up as the federal reserve is poised to raise rates again. The last president to achieve a balanced budget was Bill Clinton, thanks to a soaring dot-com stock market.

Mr. Newsom – and the eventual republican candidate to be named later: if you want to launch a tax debate, stop putting state and local taxes under a magnifying glass. The problem is in Washington DC. Let’s not dodge this, like happened in 2024, 2020, 2016 . . .

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Newsom's claim Texas and Florida are the 'real high tax states' picked apart by expert: 'Fatally flawed'

United States Debt Clock March 2026

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/newsom-s-claim-texas-and-florida-are-the-real-high-tax-states-picked-apart-by-expert-fatally-flawed/ar-AA1ZatQm?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=69c1050d293f4e8fa1c6879d131a1c96&ei=62

ElwoodBlues · M

... and no credentials in economics or tax policy.

🤣😂 Who else fits that description?? 🤣😂

It turns the average person in California pays $10,000 a year, and in Texas it’s $5,000 a year.

Does the average Californian earn twice what the average Texan earns? You do realize, don't you, that you have to adjust for income!!

Regardless, that's barking up the wrong tree, because Newsom isn't comparing 'average' taxpayers, he's comparing 'middle class' taxpayers.

“Florida is the other regressive tax state,” Newsom continued. “Your middle class pays more taxes in Texas than our middle class in California.”

Newsom is extolling the advantages – for the middle class – of progressive taxation. Your reference to 'average' is a total red herring.

Irrespective of anyone’s feeling about local income and property taxes, those are NOT presidential campaign issues.

Sure, but progressive vs regressive federal taxation is very much a presidential campaign issue!!

See that?? When you address what Newsom actually stated, rather than what Fox News said about Newsom, you get a completely different story!!!

UPDATE

BTW, Newsom is making the same point that billionaire Warren Buffett made 15 years ago: that it's wrong that he (Buffett) pays a lower tax rate than his $60K/year secretary.

Buffett said that his taxes amounted to "only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent."
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/sep/21/does-secretary-pay-higher-taxes-millionaire/