For years I have rejected _all_ contract and permanent jobs from CA for two reasons:
1. I don't enjoy filing state income tax(I'm a Texan) at all.
2. I have to get 13% higher pay comparing to what I earn in TX which CA-recruiters did not like it much at times. The 13% is to cover CA's state income tax.
I don't know your situation so maybe this actually is an issue for you, but I feel like it's worth pointing out that the 13% tax bracket is only on income beyond $1 million/year
I don't do a ton of contract and I don't like CA taxes. But this seems slightly antagonistic. Hiring a CPA will make taxes easier, both of these can mainly be solved with more money.
Why are recruiters negotiating with you about whether or not 13% is a far increase for being in CA? To me it seems like the high end for comp in Silicon Valley is much higher than the high end for comp in Texas. And 10-20% salary adjustment for an internal move between a MCOL city and Silicon Valley seems normal.
I don't know your situation, but a 15% bump for working in CA sounds cheap in general.
Not quite sure what might have changed since, but 20 years ago I was doing on-site work in New York, but my primary residence was still in Texas (I flew in every Sunday night, stayed in a hotel, and back every Friday) and still didn't owe any New York state taxes because I didn't actually reside there.
