Gov. Newsom Pushing For New Taxes on Water and Phones
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s has called for a first-ever water tax and an added fee on phone bills at a time when the state is enjoying what recently departed state Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor called...
View ArticleNew Tax Proposals Hurt the Middle-Class
No one disputes that California has a big budget surplus. According to the Office of the Legislative Analyst, California has budget reserves in excess of $18 billion. Our budget reserves exceed the...
View ArticleCalifornia’s Supreme Court has thrown cities—and citizens—into chaos over...
The California Supreme Court has some explaining to do. Late last year, the city of Oakland put a new land parcel tax on the books, after 62 percent of voters turned out to boost funding for public...
View ArticleCalifornia lawmakers seek tax, other limits on sugary drinks
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — State lawmakers are trying again to discourage the consumption of sugary beverages, proposing a tax, warning labels, and a ban on soda displays near checkout lines among other...
View ArticleIs it time for California’s taxpayers to go on strike?
Around California, public school teachers are on strike seeking more pay, better benefits and less competition from charter schools. They are also demanding that the rest of us pay higher taxes....
View ArticleCalifornia Lawmakers Want More Dollars from the Middle Class
Blue collars in California are once again being targeted by lawmakers with a multitude of new taxes on the energy industry that will trickle into their pocketbooks. Our current slate of lawmakers are...
View ArticleCalifornia Voters Could Be Asked To Impose An Estate Tax
California voters would consider a state-mandated tax on the assets of wealthy residents, one that could generate as much as $1 billion a year for low-income families, under legislation introduced in...
View ArticleAre Big Tax Increases Coming to California?
Gavin Newsom’s election as governor and the expanded Democratic Party majorities in the Legislature have raised hopes in some quarters and fears in others that big tax increases may be on the horizon....
View ArticleCalifornia May Be Reaching the Point of ‘Taxuration’
The phenomenon of “taxuration” occurs when taxpayers are so saturated with new tax-hike proposals that they start to rebel. According to a new poll, taxuration may have finally arrived in California,...
View ArticleA crackdown on misuse of taxpayer money?
As documented in this space on several occasions, local government officials throughout California have been thumbing their noses at a state law that prohibits them from using taxpayer funds for...
View ArticleCalifornia is reviewing 23,500 state tax refunds it paid too soon
California erroneously sent refunds to 23,500 taxpayers last month, according to an announcement Tuesday from the state’s Franchise Tax Board. The department responsible for collecting state personal...
View ArticleGuns, gas and soda – most California tax proposals died at the Capitol, but a...
California lawmakers this year put forward new tax proposals that would have hit soda drinkers, bankers and gun owners — not to mention anyone with a car. Most of those proposals died this week in a...
View ArticleUse $21 Billion Surplus Instead of Taxing Californians More
California has a record $21.5 billion surplus. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have all that money because you are being overtaxed. Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his...
View ArticleTwo tax hikes for schools could end up on California’s 2020 ballot
Though it’s never a sure bet that California voters will sign off on a tax increase, the odds improve when the money is promised to schools. Less clear, though, is what happens if two school tax...
View ArticleMeasure EE tax hike for LAUSD fails
A proposed parcel tax ballot measure that would have created a new stream of local funding for the Los Angeles Unified School District went down to defeat at the hands of voters late Tuesday, even as...
View ArticleLocal Tax Conflict Heats Up
For decades, it’s been an article of political faith – as well as law – that local government taxes designated for particular purposes require two-thirds approval by voters. The supermajority vote...
View ArticleMore Tax Revenue, Bigger Surpluses … And Still Not Satisfied
Tax revenue and government surpluses are up all over California, but that fact doesn’t satisfy advocates for more and more taxes. Tax raising activists could step on each other in the charge for more...
View ArticleGovernment Adds Insult By Cheating On Tax Collections
It’s bad enough that California taxes its citizens more than almost all other states, but adding insult to injury, government entities often cheat on the way that they collect taxes. This happens in...
View ArticleA Victory for California Taxpayers
This past week a direct attack on Proposition 13 was resoundingly voted down by the California State Assembly. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1 would have changed a key element of Prop. 13 by...
View ArticleDirty Tricks Used to Increase Your Taxes
Perhaps California’s political structure hasn’t quite devolved into the kind of despotic regime like we see in North Korea or Venezuela, but that doesn’t mean we’re not headed in that direction. As...
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