European marginal tax rates that high kick in at a way lower income, resulting in a far higher tax burden on the middle class.

France is 41% at 78k EUR. UK is 40% at 37k GBP, Netherlands is 50% at 73k EUR.

Then add on top the VAT which is high teens.

You’d need to earn over $200,000 to get to a >40% marginal rate in CA, with the standard deduction and SALT it’s probably closer to $300,000.

Europe taxes the middle class at those higher rates to raise enough income for all those social programs. You couldn’t fund those sort of social programs in CA relying solely on taxes the top 5%