California is the nation’s most populous state as we all know. It is also the nation’s top tax collector. You have all heard me say that we live in the nation’s highest-taxed and highest-regulated state...well now we have some proof, thanks to a new U.S. Census Bureau report!

During the 2013-2014 fiscal year, California collected 138.1 billion in taxes. This is a whopping 16 percent of all state taxes collected in the nation and more than the next two states, New York and Texas, combined.

Personal and corporate income taxes, $76.9 billion, accounted to 55.6 percent of California’s revenues and were nearly a quarter of all the state income taxes in the nation.

Sales taxes generated $50 billion in our fair state. Licensing, taxes and fees another $8.9 billion.

The $138.1 billion in California taxes amounts to $3,560 per resident...which is one of the highest per capital taxation levels....but not, believe it or not, the highest. That dubious honor goes to New York, which collected $3,908 per resident. Maybe we should all move to Texas which has no income tax. Its state taxes amounted to just $2,048 per person.

I am not serious when I say we should all move to Texas because, as you know, small businesses, established pest control companies on Main Street, do not have the luxury (or, in many cases, the desire) to move out of state. The solution is to educate our elected officials on the burdens that pest control companies face in this great state.