You won't believe how California's rich spend their money!

'It's not as if we have incredibly low tax rates on the very top - they're paying a lot.'

When you think of California, images of sandy beaches, sun-kissed skin and Hollywood stars flash through your mind - and you're not wrong! California's rich enjoy all the sunny state has to offer - but at what cost?

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to The Sacramento Bee, the top 1 percent of California's rich pay a shocking 45 percent of the entire state's income tax.

The struggle is real for other taxpayers, who suffer declined or stagnate real incomes the past few years.

From 1994 to 2013, the wage gap has steadily increased across California.  The top one percent saw an adjusted gross income of $1.6 million in 2013, which is nearly double the 1994 numbers.

Meanwhile, the average adjusted gross income for filers int he second-highest fifth of the tax bracket dropped from $67,507 to $66,746, with the adjusted gross income in the second-lowest fifth declining a total of nine percent.

Ann Huff Stevens, an economics professor at UC Davis and interim dean of the Graduate School of Management, stated: "The story has been very consistent since the mid-1980s - there are much bigger gains in earned income at the top. Below that, it's been stagnant. At the bottom, there's been a decline.

"It's not as if we have incredibly low tax rates on the very top - they're paying a lot." Stevens added many taxpayers' income has stalled or declined, leaving the state's budget year with a "significantly higher" income tax revenue.

Governor Jerry Brown's January spending plan reads, "Increases in wages are likely more concentrated among high-income taxpayers who pay higher marginal tax rates."

Number of Returns

1995: 12.1 million
2013: 15.5 million

Returns with itemized deductions

1995: 4.4 million
2013: 5.6 million

Returns with standard deductions

1995: 7.7 million
2013: 9.9 million

Returns with  moving expenses

1995: 61,723 (average of $2,029 per return)
2013: 78,889 (average of $2,448 per return)

Returns with alimony paid

1995: 100,724 (average of $10,261 per return)
2013: 94,717 (average of $21,616 per return)

Returns with medical expenses

1995: 792,754 (average of $4,173 per return)
2013: 1,024,439 (average of $$9,710 per return)

Returns with mortgage interest

1995: 3.75 million (average of $10,750 per return)
2013: 4.2 million (average of $12,668 per return)

Number of millionaires paying mental health tax

49,148

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