Editor’s note: Breaking views are thoughts from individual members of the editorial board on today’s headlines.

Californians are saddled with some of the highest state and local taxes in the country and they’re becoming increasingly aware of this distinction, according to polling by the the Public Policy Institute of California.

Polling data released last month by PPIC found that 72 percent of Californians thought California ranked near the top (49 percent) or above average (23 percent) in terms of per capita tax burden compared to the rest of country. That’s up from just 57 percent in May 2006, when 29 percent thought California ranked near the top and 28 percent thought California ranked above average.

Additionally, the percentages of Californians who feel they pay “much more” and “somewhat more” in state and local taxes than they should has gone significantly up over the years, while the percentage of Californians who feel they pay “the right amount” has fallen.

In January 2012, 47 percent of respondents felt they paid the right amount of taxes, while 25 percent felt they paid somewhat more and 21 percent felt they paid much more in taxes than they should

In March 2018, the percentage of Californians who felt they paid the right amount plunged to 35 percent. Interestingly, while the percentage who felt they paid “somewhat more” dropped to 19 percent, the percentage who felt they paid “much more” than they should surged to 37 percent.

Taken together, 56 percent of Californians felt they paid more in state and local taxes than they should in March 2018, compared to 46 percent just six years prior. Among likely voters this sentiment has grown even stronger, with 61 percent feeling that way in March 2018, compared to 47 percent in January 2012.

It’s no surprise. California’s per capita collections of state and local income taxes was the fifth highest in the country as of fiscal year 2013. Meanwhile, California’s sales taxes are also among the highest in the country, and everyone is now feeling the effect of new gas taxes and vehicle registration fee increases courtesy of Senate Bill 1.

Despite the perception and reality of consistently high taxes, what does California have to show for it? The highest poverty rate in the country, a K-12 education system which fails to keep up with the rest of the country on national tests, and a distorted state of priorities in which a bullet train is being built while California is dealing with a massive homeless problem.

On top of all that, we are now in a situation where counties, cities and school districts are on track to spend more and more of their budgets on unsustainable pension benefits for government workers while increasingly coming to taxpayers begging for more money.

Californians must harness their apparent self-awareness about all the taxes they pay, take a hard look at the governments all around them, vote out crummy politicians and vote down basically any and every tax and bond measure ever proposed until politicians learn to respect the fact that Californians work for themselves and their families, not government.

Sal Rodriguez is an editorial writer and columnist for the Southern California News Group. He may be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com