@alexz9730 , I am not sure if I understand your statement about paying double taxes to Ca;lifornia becauise your spouse is now a US person ( citizen/GreenCard ). As I understand your situation ( and because you are deployed / employed by the US govt. ) :
(a) Because you are married and your spouse is a US person ( either because she has the GreenCard or because you and she chose for her to be treated as a US resident for tax purposes ) you can as Married Filing Joint ( MFJ ) for Federal Tax. This gives you a much larger standard deduction and thereby reduces you taxable income. A similar situation is true for the California filing. Note that for California purposes, the taxes are computed based on your total income and with some adjustment of the brackets for filing status. Thus if your spouse has no world income, filing jointly would still be better than filing as Married Filing Separate ( MFS). See this doc from H & R Block-->
California Taxes: 2023-24 Brackets & Rates | H&R Block® (hrblock.com)
(b) For California purposes the real difference comes into play when filing MFS because of community property state rules. A married couple filing separately, each declares and pays taxes on 50% of the combined income. May be this is what you were referring to. Note though that this is true only when each spouse files a return separately not when they file as MFJ.
Hope this helps.
