Bill Maher Compares California’s Tax Rates to Drug Dealers in Podcast Critique

During Monday’s episode of his “Club Random” podcast, comedian Bill Maher launched into a pointed criticism of California’s corporate tax environment, drawing an unexpected comparison to his past experiences purchasing illegal substances. Maher argued that the state’s tax burden makes entrepreneurship impractical, claiming that California’s government extracts a larger percentage than the street-level dealers he once patronized.

Maher elaborated on his argument by recalling his own experience as a marijuana seller decades ago, noting that even when he diluted a pound of product into 17 ounces, he fell short of the percentage the state currently collects through taxation. His guest, actor and comedian Jack Whitehall, added to the critique by joking that California’s tax burden forces business owners to diversify into unrelated ventures simply to remain solvent.

While Maher referenced a 40 percent tax rate in his remarks, California’s actual corporate tax stands at 8.84 percent for most businesses, excluding the federal corporate rate of 21 percent and various payroll taxes and business fees. Maher has consistently vocalized his frustration with high taxation rates, previously challenging Senator Bernie Sanders and other Democratic socialists in April when he claimed to pay nearly 60 percent of his earnings in combined state, local, sales, property, and federal taxes.

Maher has also previously targeted Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over her 2021 Met Gala appearance in a “Tax the Rich” dress, arguing that wealthy individuals already shoulder a substantial portion of the nation’s tax burden despite ongoing political rhetoric to the contrary.