What California and Texas Have in Common

Contrasting the economic approaches of California and Texas has become something of a national pastime for wonks, especially those with ideological axes to grind. For years, one has been able to read opinion piece after opinion piece (the bulk of them in the Wall Street Journal) describing how Texas's low-tax, light-regulation approach was helping it run rings around those West Coast liberals. Lately California's economy has been stronger, and there's been a bit of a backlash.

I'm not going to deny that the two states do things differently. Texas has the fifth-lowest state and local tax burden (7.6 percent of state income) among the 50 states, according to the Tax Foundation. California has the sixth highest (11 percent). And while it's harder to measure, I do think it's fair to say that California has a much less business-friendly regulatory climate than Texas.