State Tax higher than Federal

[dickmcd2004]

Why is my California tax burden higher than my Federal tax burden?

[JohnW152]

There have been significant federal changes this year – expanded tax credits, for example – that will provide some taxpayers with higher refunds on their federal returns than in the past.

That said, your federal tax generally has no real bearing on how much your state tax should be.  Income that’s taxable or non-taxable, tax rates, deductions, and tax credits can vary significantly when comparing state and federal.

A more relevant question might be, how much is your state tax this year compared to last year?  If your state tax this year is significantly different than last year, and other factors are fairly constant, there may be an issue you want to investigate.

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

A common reason is that CA taxes long term capital gains as ordinary income, while the federal rate can be as low as 0%. 

[dickmcd2004]

That is probably what happened in my case.  Thank you.