America’s corporate income tax rate, at 35%, is the highest in the world. A rising chorus would like to bring it more in line with foreign rates, which average around 23%. I have a better idea—abolish the tax. The long-term benefits would greatly outweigh the short-term costs. And revenue from other sources, especially the personal income tax, would quickly make up for it and then some.
One of those occasions was last August, when both legislative houses, without a single dissenting vote, passed Senate Bill 850, which – on a limited, pilot basis – grants some community college districts the authority to offer four-year bachelor’s degree programs.
Hertzberg’s tax increase — introduced as SB 8 immediately after he was sworn in Dec. 1 — actually is long-needed tax reform, the kind that causes most politicians to avert their eyes.
The measure finally would extend the state sales tax to services, the fastest growth sector of California’s economy.
Fed officials, concluding their last meeting of the year Wednesday, issued a statement that essentially left their easy-money policy in place, indicating that their key interest rate would stay near zero for at least a few more months.
Two major contributors to the decline in total revenues were employee retirement revenue, which includes earnings on investments and contributions, (dropping 67.7 percent, from $533.3 billion to $172.0 billion) and interest earnings (falling 44.6 percent, from $91.9 billion to $50.9 billion).
A labor dispute is apparently delaying American potato shipments at American West Coast ports, thereby limiting supplies in Japan. Labor disputes have resulted in protests in ports in California and the Pacific Northwest over the past couple years.
You are on your own, Southern California businesses, and can count on very little help, and, likely, much mischief, from Sacramento and various lower orders of government. To find a way out of stubbornly high unemployment and anemic income growth, the Southland will need to find a novel way to restart its economic engine based almost entirely on its grass-roots business, its creative savvy and entrepreneurial culture.
A California law taking effect in January places new risks on companies that hire contracted labor through staffing agencies. Employers may wish to take extra steps to protect themselves from paying for wage theft or workers’ compensation violations made by that staffing agency, suggests a new report by the global insurance manufacturer Marsh. . . The Marsh report also notes California is a hotbed of alleged wage and hour violations — and employers may want to consider purchasing wage and hour insurance to protect against alleged violations.
But while San Jose and other cities will never literally reach a single employee who sits in the room mailing out pension checks, the trajectory is headed in that troubling direction. One city manager even quipped to a newspaper a few years ago that cities are becoming pension providers that offer a few public services on the side.
The much higher voter turnout of a presidential election, coupled with a much lower threshold for qualifying initiative ballot measures, creates the opportunity for pro-tax-increase forces – such as public employee unions – to make their big move.
Small business owners are often left in the dark about the energy cost increases from environmental and climate change mandates. Latino-owned businesses are disproportionately impacted because many operate on a smaller profit margin, many don’t have as mu
Small business owners are often left in the dark about the energy cost increases from environmental and climate change mandates. Latino-owned businesses are disproportionately impacted because many operate on a smaller profit margin, many don’t have as much access to financing and many businesses are less established. For minority-owned or family businesses, absorbing new environmental costs could mean being forced to reduce hours or lay off workers.
A steadily improving economy will buffer California’s budget from a drop in revenue expected when temporary tax hikes begin to expire in the coming years, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said Wednesday. . . The expiring tax increases “will not necessarily cause a sudden revenue drop off – a `fiscal cliff’ – for the annual state budget process,” Taylor said.
In recent years, the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, which combined handle about 40% of all containerized freight for the nation, have faced rising competition. A widening of the Panama Canal will allow larger ships from Asia to bypass the West Coast and deliver more goods straight to the East Coast. In preparation, a number of ports on that side of the country are undergoing major expansions. The Jacksonville, Fla., port authority, for example, said recently that its Asian container shipments grew 20% this fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.
Those unfunded liabilities – in effect, long-term debts – will haunt state and local governments for decades as other forms of public spending are squeezed to cover the immense pension gap, even if those in charge are loath to admit it.