How is it that Californians pay the highest taxes in the country but get the worst results? Highest gas tax in America — but we have the  worst roads . Highest income tax — and the highest unemployment rate of any state. The nation’s highest state sales tax — alongside America’s highest poverty rate. Sixteen years of Democrat one-party rule have seen an explosion of bloated, bureaucratic government from Sacramento. Now it’s dawning on more and more Californians that there’s a direct connection.