California's middle class getting less for its tax dollars

The L.A. Times reports:

"Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California," said Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University in Orange. "Today, you go to Texas, the roads are no worse, the public schools are not great but are better than or equal to ours, and their universities are good. The bargain between California's government and the middle class is constantly being renegotiated to the disadvantage of the middle class."

The reasons are varied. The cost of services continues to outpace inflation.

High taxes in California isn't about roads and good public schools:it's about paying 3600 prison guards over $100,000 a year.