FORMAL PETITION FOR A 10% CALIFORNIA MIDDLE-CLASS TAX REDUCTION
To: Governor Gavin Newsom
State of California
Subject: A Formal Request for a 10% Reduction in the California State Tax Burden on Middle-Class Working Families
Governor Newsom,
I am writing as a California taxpayer and constituent to formally request that you support and pursue a 10% reduction in the California state tax burden for middle-class working families.
This request is not unreasonable, radical, or anti-government.
It is a request for balance, accountability, affordability, and responsible representation.
California's government exists to serve the people of California. The taxpayers who work, earn income, purchase goods, operate businesses, raise families, and contribute to their communities provide the resources that allow state government to function.
Those taxpayers deserve to be heard.
They deserve transparency.
And they deserve meaningful tax relief when the state has the ability to provide it.
CALIFORNIA'S TAX SYSTEM AND THE MIDDLE CLASS
California currently has individual income-tax rates ranging from 1% to 12.3%, with an additional 1% tax on taxable income above $1 million, resulting in a maximum personal income-tax rate of 13.3%.
The existence of a progressive tax system does not eliminate the financial pressure experienced by middle-class families.
A family's financial burden is not limited to its income-tax bracket.
Californians also encounter sales taxes, gasoline-related taxes and fees, vehicle costs, property taxes, utility costs, and numerous other government-imposed fees and expenses.
Therefore, when discussing affordability, government should examine the total economic burden placed on working families, rather than looking at one tax rate in isolation.
CALIFORNIA COLLECTS ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF REVENUE
According to California's Legislative Analyst's Office, the enacted 2025–26 budget projected approximately:
$125.96 billion from personal income taxes
$34.86 billion from sales and use taxes
$35.61 billion from corporation taxes
Those three major revenue sources alone represented approximately $196.44 billion in projected General Fund revenue for 2025–26.
The state's more recent 2026 fiscal outlook projected approximately $130.4 billion in personal income-tax revenue for 2025–26 and approximately $125.2 billion for 2026–27.
These numbers demonstrate that California government is operating with access to an extraordinary amount of taxpayer-generated revenue.
That brings us to a fundamental question:
At what point does government determine that taxpayers have contributed enough and that government should become more efficient rather than continually asking Californians to contribute more?
HOW MANY MONTHS DOES A CALIFORNIAN WORK FOR GOVERNMENT?
There is another way to understand taxation that is rarely discussed in Sacramento:
Time.
Taxes are not merely numbers on a tax return.
Taxes represent a portion of a person's labor, time, productivity, and economic output.
For illustration, if a person's effective combined tax burden were:
20%, that would represent approximately 73 days, or about 2.4 months, of annual earnings.
25%, approximately 91 days, or almost 3 months.
30%, approximately 110 days, or about 3.6 months.
35%, approximately 128 days, or about 4.2 months.
These are mathematical illustrations, not claims that every California taxpayer pays those exact effective rates. Actual tax burdens vary according to income, deductions, household circumstances, location, property ownership, consumption, and other factors.
But the underlying principle remains important:
Time is the one resource a working person can never get back.
When government takes a portion of someone's income, it is ultimately taking a portion of the economic value produced by that person's time and labor.
Therefore, taxpayers have a legitimate right to ask:
How much of a working person's time should government be entitled to before that person is able to fully benefit from the fruits of his or her own labor?
I am not equating taxation with the historical institution of slavery, and I do not intend to diminish the horrific reality of slavery or the people who suffered under it.
I am making a different argument:
A free society should recognize that individuals have a legitimate interest in retaining a substantial portion of the value created through their own work.
Taxation should therefore be balanced against the economic freedom of the people being taxed.
THE MIDDLE CLASS SHOULD NOT BE TREATED AS AN UNLIMITED REVENUE SOURCE
California's middle class consists of the people who keep this state functioning every day.
They include:
Teachers
Nurses
Construction workers
Mechanics
Electricians
Plumbers
Police officers
Firefighters
Truck drivers
Small-business employees
Restaurant workers
Office workers
Technicians
Healthcare workers
Tradespeople
Parents working multiple jobs
Entrepreneurs and small-business owners
These Californians are not asking government for a handout.
They are asking government to recognize that they are already contributing significantly to California's economy.
The middle class should not continually be viewed as a convenient source of additional revenue simply because it continues working and earning.
THE STATE CAN PROVIDE TAX RELIEF WITHOUT ABANDONING ESSENTIAL SERVICES
I am not asking California to abandon public schools, public safety, infrastructure, healthcare, environmental protections, or other essential services.
I am asking the state to determine whether it can provide those services more efficiently.
California's 2026–27 budget is projected to be balanced, and the Governor's office has stated that the state maintains nearly $30 billion in reserves, with more than $35 billion when additional holding accounts are included.
If California can maintain substantial reserves while continuing to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in major revenues, taxpayers deserve an honest examination of whether some of that financial capacity can be returned directly to the people who generated it.
The question should not always be:
“How can government collect more?”
It should also be:
“How can government accomplish its responsibilities while taking less from the people?”
REPRESENTATION MEANS REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE
Governor Newsom, I respectfully but firmly remind you of the fundamental principle of representative government:
You represent the people of California.
You are not the owner of California's taxpayers.
The Legislature is not the owner of California's taxpayers.
Government agencies are not the owners of California's taxpayers.
The money collected by government originates from the economic activity, labor, property, businesses, purchases, and productivity of the people and businesses of California.
Government has the responsibility to manage those resources on behalf of the public.
That responsibility requires accountability.
It also requires listening.
When taxes, fees, mandates, or other financial obligations are enacted through the legislative process, the fact that a statewide voter referendum was not legally required does not eliminate the government's responsibility to explain those decisions to the citizens who must ultimately pay for them.
Legal authority and democratic accountability are not the same thing.
A law can be legally enacted while citizens can still reasonably demand greater transparency, public input, and accountability.
Californians should not have to wait until an election to make their voices heard about the financial burdens being placed upon them.
THE PEOPLE DESERVE TRANSPARENCY
I therefore ask your administration and the California Legislature to provide taxpayers with a clear accounting of:
How much California collects from individual taxpayers.
How much is collected specifically from middle-income households.
How much the state's overall tax and fee revenue has changed over the last five years.
Which increases are attributable to actual changes in tax rates.
Which increases are attributable to economic growth, inflation, population growth, or other factors.
Where taxpayer money is being spent.
Which government programs have increased in cost.
Which programs can be consolidated or eliminated.
How much administrative overhead can be reduced.
How much money could be returned to middle-class taxpayers without reducing essential services.
That information should be publicly available in a format that an ordinary California taxpayer can understand.
A 10% TAX REDUCTION SHOULD BE THE GOAL
I am formally requesting that California establish a 10% reduction in the state tax burden for qualifying middle-class taxpayers.
This could be accomplished through mechanisms such as:
Reduced middle-income income-tax rates;
Increased standard deductions or exemptions;
Expanded middle-class tax credits;
Refundable taxpayer credits;
Reductions in selected state taxes or fees;
Or another mechanism that delivers an equivalent 10% reduction in state tax liability.
The objective should be simple:
Middle-class Californians should keep more of the money they earn.
And the state should identify government efficiencies before asking taxpayers for additional revenue.
THIS IS ABOUT ECONOMIC FREEDOM
Governor Newsom, affordability is not simply about wages.
A person can receive a higher paycheck and still become financially worse off if taxes, housing, utilities, insurance, transportation, food, and other mandatory expenses consume an increasing share of that paycheck.
California has enormous economic resources.
The state has a highly productive workforce, world-class businesses, tremendous agricultural output, technological leadership, and one of the largest economies in the world.
The people who created that prosperity should be allowed to participate in it.
A prosperous California should not merely mean a prosperous government.
It should mean prosperous Californians.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS OUR REPRESENTATIVE
I respectfully ask you to remember that elected office is a position of public trust.
You were elected to represent Californians—not simply government agencies, political interests, corporations, unions, donors, or your own administration.
Your responsibility is to consider the interests of the citizens who placed you in office.
That includes taxpayers who may disagree with your policies.
It includes working families who are struggling to remain in California.
It includes people who feel that government has become too expensive.
And it includes Californians who believe that government should be smaller, more efficient, more transparent, or less expensive.
Those citizens are California too.
Their voices deserve to be heard.
MY FORMAL REQUEST
I respectfully request that you:
1. Support a 10% reduction in the California state tax burden for qualifying middle-class taxpayers.
2. Direct the appropriate state agencies to calculate the fiscal impact of such a reduction.
3. Conduct a comprehensive review of state government spending to identify unnecessary, duplicative, or inefficient expenditures.
4. Publish a transparent accounting of California's tax and fee collections and expenditures.
5. Provide taxpayers with a five-year comparison of state tax rates, tax collections, fees, and other mandatory government charges.
6. Identify savings that can be returned directly to California taxpayers.
7. Oppose unnecessary tax and fee increases that place additional financial pressure on working families.
8. Create a meaningful public-input process before major new financial burdens are imposed on California residents.
9. Make middle-class affordability a measurable state policy objective.
10. Provide a substantive public response explaining whether you support a 10% middle-class tax reduction and, if you do not, what specific alternative you propose to reduce the financial burden on California's working families.
CONCLUSION
Governor Newsom,
This petition is not asking you to choose between government and the people.
It is asking you to remember that government exists because of the people.
The people work.
The people earn.
The people pay.
The people fund the government.
And the people have a right to expect that government will exercise restraint, responsibility, and accountability with the money entrusted to it.
A taxpayer's paycheck represents hours of their life.
Their taxes therefore represent more than dollars.
They represent time that can never be recovered.
A 10% reduction in the state tax burden would not be a gift from government.
It would be an acknowledgment that the people who create California's wealth deserve to retain more of the value created by their own labor.
California can be a state with excellent public services and responsible taxation.
We can invest in our future without treating taxpayers as an unlimited source of revenue.
We can maintain essential government programs while demanding efficiency from government.
And we can have a government that is strong enough to serve its people while being restrained enough to respect the people who fund it.
Governor Newsom, you are our elected representative.
We are asking you to represent us.
Not just the government.
Not just the state bureaucracy.
Not just political interests.
The people of California.
We are asking you to listen.
We are asking you to review the numbers.
We are asking you to examine government spending with the same scrutiny that taxpayers must apply to their own household budgets.
And most importantly, we are asking you to support meaningful tax relief for the middle class.
A 10% reduction is not an unreasonable demand.
It is a starting point for restoring balance between the government that collects the money and the citizens who earn it.
Respectfully,
A California Taxpayer and Constituent
Petition for a 10% Middle-Class California Tax Reduction
Sources: California Franchise Tax Board; California Legislative Analyst's Office; Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.