California’s gubernatorial transitions have included a less-than-stellar tradition in recent decades – outgoing governors leaving budget deficits to successors. . . So Brown’s fix is temporary, rather than permanent. And with so many variables, the next governor could easily be back in the soup.
The study, which surveyed businesses with revenues from $100,000 to $5 million, showed 47 percent of entrepreneurs believed the Los Angeles economy would improve in the next year – up from 40 percent in a spring survey. Of those surveyed, 39 percent felt the national economy would improve, a 10 percent gain from the spring.
Okay, maybe that’s not the biggest draw today. Perhaps that honor belongs to Oregon Measure 97, or Maine Question 2, or Louisiana Amendment 3, or California Proposition 55. But just on the off chance that these aren’t the headlines on the election coverage you’re following, here’s a quick guide to some of the major tax-related ballot issues voters will see today
On the issue of taxation alone, voters must decide whether to impose a first-in-the-nation carbon tax (Washington), adopt a new income and payroll tax to fund a state public option health care system (Colorado), levy a high-rate gross receipts tax (Oregon), extend temporary income tax increases (California), impose a new high-income surcharge (Maine), legalize and tax marijuana (five states), and hike cigarette taxes (four states), just to name a few of the tax changes on ballots across the country.
Proving that for every action there is a reaction, new business-bashing actions applauded by Gov. Jerry Brown have boosted efforts by other states to recruit California companies to their friendlier locations. . . The representatives are able to project significant operating cost reductions when it comes to labor, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, health care, taxes, facility leases or purchases, regulatory compliance and transportation. Affordable housing in other parts of the country also make it easier for companies to attract and retain employees.
Climate change increasingly marks a distinct dividing line. Manufacturing, moving goods, industrial scale agriculture, fossil fuel energy all consume resources in ways many progressives see as harming the planet. Progressives threaten these industries with increasingly draconian schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Gone are the days of supporting moderate shifts — which could work with some Heartland economies — from coal to gas and improving mileage efficiency.
Documents obtained by Scientific American through Freedom of Information Act requests now paint a disturbing picture of the tactics that are used to control the science press. For example, the FDA assures the public that it is committed to transparency, but the documents show that, privately, the agency denies many reporters access—including ones from major outlets such as Fox News—and even deceives them with half-truths to handicap them in their pursuit of a story. At the same time, the FDA cultivates a coterie of journalists whom it keeps in line with threats. And the agency has made it a practice to demand total control over whom reporters can and can’t talk to until after the news has broken, deaf to protests by journalistic associations and media ethicists and in violation of its own written policies.
The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, the Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems, and provides a roadmap for improvement.
In a memo to Mermell last Thursday, Finance Director Matthew Hawkesworth said he had ruled in his capacity as tax administrator that the city would tax streaming services at the same rate as cable services through a new interpretation of an existing Utility User Tax passed in 2008. . . Pasadena wouldn’t be the first local government to tax streaming services. Chicago and the state of Pennsylvania already get revenue from those types of subscriptions.
Though California, with 12 percent of the American population, has more than 35 percent of the nation’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families welfare caseload—with Latinos constituting nearly half the adult rolls in the state—Texas, with under 9 percent of the country’s population, has less than 1 percent of the national welfare caseload. Further, according to the 2014 American Community Survey, Texas Hispanics had a significantly lower rate of out-of-wedlock births and a higher marriage rate than California Hispanics.
NFIB California State Executive Director Tom Scott added, “Compared to the national trend, California paints an even uglier picture for small businesses. Three problems California small business owners rank much higher than those in other areas of the United States are family/sick leave mandates; minimum wage laws; and hiring/firing employment regulations.
“Most importantly, the LAO’s analysis separates fact from fiction about the split-roll concept, which unions and other liberal groups have promoted for decades by arguing that homeowners are shouldering an ever-larger share of the $50 billion in property taxes that schools and local governments collect each year. Fundamentally, the LAO’s analysis rejects that claim, concluding, “Proposition 13 likely did not cause the slight increase in the share of property taxes paid by homeowners.””
Brown has acknowledged the “volatility” that the dependence fosters, because incomes of the wealthy are tied to the stock market and other investments. But he’s declined to spend political capital on making the tax system more stable.
Many believe the current tax system does not serve California as well as it might, and that a review of the entire structure is long overdue. Post – Proposition 13 revenues from the sales and use tax, the corporation tax, and the property tax have diminished. This has increased California’s dependence on the personal income tax. The increasing volatility of the state’s economy (and the stock market) has translated into greater unpredictability of state tax revenue, presenting challenges for budget forecasts.
Gordon Schremp, senior fuels analyst for the California Energy Commission, said he was aware of Harris’ investigation of the state’s refiners. . . “There have been all kinds of major allegations,” Schremp said. “I’ve seen [attorney general investigations] with all kinds of price spikes. I don’t know of an incidence where they’ve come back and said, yes we’ve found manipulation in the gasoline market.”