People keep talking about California's population trends as if it was entirely driven by aversion to high taxes. If anything, that's a rounding error in the real explanation.

CA's population decline last year was mainly due to far fewer people immigrating to the state from abroad (there were 100,000 fewer last year than before the pandemic), as well as all the COVID deaths.

Of course, high cost of living is a problem, but that's something better addressed by clearing the way for more housing starts rather than lower taxes. Plenty of other states and countries have high taxes and are still desirable places to live.