I've lived in California for the last 20 years. I doubt that your taxes are double what we're paying here. Start with 10% California sales taxes, add 10% California personal income taxes, plus 35% federal income taxes, plus the highest gasoline taxes in the country and high property taxes (due to high valuations, not high rates). My wife is from Australia and she always thought that America had very low taxes... until she saw our tax bills!