In California: 39.6% federal income tax + 12.3 CA income tax = 51.9%
Is that personal or corporate? It sounded like OP was talking about a business.
personal income tax rate
I'm curious how one can end up paying the full personal tax rate as an owner of a business. After expenses, depreciation, write-offs such as home office, vehicle, etc., you still don't have to pay yourself the entire corporate net income as a salary. Unless your lifestyle simply demands a top bracket salary.
If it's just a D.B.A, why wouldn't it be the full personal tax rate. Unless the car is _only_ for work, you can't write off the cost of the vehicle, only the operating expenses when you use it for business. Same for home office deduction: The simple deduction is $5/sq. ft. (up to a max of 300 sq. ft.). $1500/year is nice to have back, yes, but it isn't much of a needle-mover on a professional salary.
He mentioned SF.
After sales tax? Everywhere.
Not in WA, even in the 39.6% Federal bracket. Unless you own a very expensive home relative to your income (approximately 33x income at 1.5% property tax works out to 50% of income).