California's state income tax rate is 13.6%. Governor Gavin Newsom tried to push it to 16.8%. And according to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith — a man who earns his living in Los Angeles — the IRS is pinging your phone to make sure you're not getting away with a single dime.
Smith didn't say this at a Republican fundraiser. He said it on Patrick Bet-David's show, casually, like a guy who's been living inside the machine long enough to know exactly how it works.
The NBA Countdown host broke down the tax layers that hit anyone earning a paycheck in Los Angeles. "You got California state tax, you got Los Angeles city tax, you got L.A. County tax," Smith explained. That's three separate governments reaching into the same pocket before federal even enters the conversation. New York, where Smith also spent years working, sits at around 9%. California blew past that and kept going.
"Cuz New York was at around 9%, California was approaching 13%, now they're at 13.6%," Smith said. And then he dropped the number that should stop every Californian mid-scroll: "If Gavin Newsom had his way, it'd be about 16.8%."
Nearly seventeen cents on every dollar. State level only. Before the city, the county, the feds, Social Security, and Medicare all take their cuts.
But the tax rate wasn't the part of the interview that landed hardest. Smith described how the IRS tracks physical location to determine tax liability. "IRS, they ping your phone," he said. "So anytime you get a call or you're on the phone, they know." The implication is straightforward: if you're physically present in California when you earn income, California wants its cut — and the IRS is apparently happy to help them verify it.
This isn't a conspiracy theory floated by some anonymous account. This is one of ESPN's highest-profile broadcasters, a man whose show is produced out of Los Angeles, describing his own firsthand experience with the surveillance infrastructure of a state tax system.
The "progressive" tax model has always relied on the assumption that high earners will stay put and keep paying. That assumption is cracking. Smith himself has been vocal about considering a move, and he's hardly alone. The pandemic-era exodus from California and New York wasn't driven by weather preferences. It was driven by math.
States like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee charge zero state income tax. Nevada and Utah aren't far behind in attractiveness. When the gap between staying and leaving is 13.6% of your gross income — with a governor who wanted to make it 16.8% — the question isn't why people are leaving. The question is why anyone with options is still there.
California's answer, apparently, is surveillance. Can't keep taxpayers through policy? Track their phones and bill them anyway.
Smith also addressed the political dimension. When Bet-David noted Newsom's presidential ambitions, Smith's response was immediate and blunt: "You look beautiful in those blue suits, you look very presidential. Ain't getting my vote."
Bet-David asked if that was because of taxes.
"Yeah, damn right. Because these damn taxes."
No hedging. No "well, he has some good policies but..." A man who works in an industry that leans overwhelmingly left looked at the governor who wants to run the country and said no — specifically because of what that governor already did to his state.
This exchange cuts to the core of something the national media would prefer to keep buried. California doesn't just have a tax problem. It has an enforcement philosophy that treats its residents like revenue livestock — tagged, tracked, and milked on schedule. The state's answer to people fleeing its tax burden isn't to lower the burden. It's to make sure you can't flee without the IRS confirming your coordinates first.
Newsom still wants the White House. He still wants to take the California model national. And the California model, in the words of a man who lives inside it, is a 13.6% state tax with phone tracking to make sure you pay it.
The pitch for that presidential campaign should be fascinating.