Existing companies, not research universities or entrepreneurship programs, are the most fertile source of startup businesses in most metropolitan areas. That’s a key takeaway from a new study conducted by the Kauffman Foundation, which also found that most areas with higher-than-average startup activity have been strong entrepreneurial centers for at least 20 years.
Germany’s agressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power has come with a hefty pricetag for consumers, and the costs often fall disproportionately on the poor. Government advisors are calling for a completely new start.
As lawmakers consider policies to improve the competitiveness of American businesses, they should not forget that individual income tax rates are just as important to business activity as the corporate rate. The various proposals to raise income taxes on high-income earners, either by increasing the top marginal rate, closing “loopholes,” limiting deductions, or implementing a minimum tax, would fall very heavily on America’s non-corporate businesses. Pass-through businesses are currently facing top marginal rates on average between 44.5 percent and 47.5 percent and as high as 51.8 percent in California. These pass-through businesses account for a large percentage of business income and employment in the United States. Raising taxes on them could curtail their hiring and other investment plans, putting more strain on an already struggling economy.
California imposed a huge retroactive income tax increase last year, but some 2,500 small business owners are learning that once is never enough for Sacramento. The state now wants to hit them with a retroactive levy going back to 2008, to the tune of $120 million or more.
Governor Jerry Brown’s administration has pulled the plug on efforts to amend Proposition 65, California’s toxics warning law, through legislation this year.
Seduced by generous subsidies, Germans are embracing the ambitious project with such fervor – installing solar panels on church roofs and converting sewage into heat – that instead of benefiting from a rise in green energy, they are straining under the subsidies’ cost and from surcharges.
GO-Biz Director Kish Rajan Debuts New On-line Permitting Tools and Provides Overview of the Governor’s Economic Development Initiative
Los Angeles’ new mayor has vowed to help stanch the flow of film and TV production jobs out of Hollywood, starting with the appointment of a film czar at City Hall. But to make a real difference, Eric Garcetti needs to convince skeptical state pols to combat the lure of rich tax incentives from outside California.
If you harbor reservations about California’s business climate, or its attractiveness to commercial ventures, it can only mean you have yet to make the acquaintance of Kish Rajan, the state’s director of business and economic development. When the former Walnut Creek councilman talks about what lies ahead, he sounds as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve.
Massachusetts retained its No. 1 spot as the state with the most R&D jobs in biotech (27,883), according to an annual industry report published by MassBio, the state’s industry trade group, and released this week. California ranked second with 23,438 biotech R&D jobs. But from 2007 to 2012 — among the darkest days for the biotech industry as investors retreated from the sector — those California jobs grew by 4,304, or 22.5 percent. That beat Massachusetts by almost two-to-one.
Substantially overhauling the 40-year-old California Environmental Quality Act may still happen, but with just two weeks remaining in the legislative session, it probably won’t happen this year.
Over the past 18 months, a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers who got rich suing the tobacco industry have turned their litigious attention to what they hope will be the next big thing: challenges to healthy-sounding food labels they allege are misleading. Hailing from across the U.S., the lawyers decided to sue in federal courts in Northern California, where the consumer-protection laws are expansive and the jury pool nutrition-conscious.
Over the past 18 months, a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers who got rich suing the tobacco industry have turned their litigious attention to what they hope will be the next big thing: challenges to healthy-sounding food labels they allege are misleading. Hailing from across the U.S., the lawyers decided to sue in federal courts in Northern California, where the consumer-protection laws are expansive and the jury pool nutrition-conscious.
With the legislative session drawing to a close–and with Steinberg continuing to juggle proposed amendments and work to keep the governor interested in CEQA–more and more voices outside Sacramento have begun to pose this very question: What exactly will Steinberg’s bill do to streamline CEQA for infill projects–and is the Senate leader’s approach good policy for the economy, for communities, and for the environment?
California is the second-most-expensive state in which to operate a motor vehicle, according to a new study released by Bankrate.com.