Tax
Jan. 28, 2026
Exit California, save taxes. Exit US, pay even more to IRS?
Leaving California can eliminate its 13.3% state income tax, but expatriating from the U.S. entirely triggers a costly "exit tax" on all your assets that can be difficult to avoid.
Robert W. Wood
Managing Partner
Wood LLP
333 Sacramento St
San Francisco , California 94111-3601
Phone: (415) 834-0113
Fax: (415) 789-4540
Email: wood@WoodLLP.com
Univ of Chicago Law School
Wood is a tax lawyer at Wood LLP, and often advises lawyers and litigants about tax issues.
Anyone who pays tax in California is likely to think about how nice it would be not to pay the state's 13.3% tax rate. Indeed, there's even a top 14.4% rate in some cases. It can grate when you see your friends and relatives in Nevada, Texas, Florida, Wyoming, Alaska, Tennessee, South Dakota or New Hampshire, where you could just pay federal tax. Washington is generally tax-free too, although it now h...
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