Over the decade ending in 2016, more people moved out of California than moved in, and the state still has the highest housing costs in the nation. Job growth is up across low-, mid- and high-income earners, but while wages have increased across all categories, low-income earners haven’t seen their paychecks increase at a comparable […]
California should do more to address homelessness. Currently, California has more people experiencing homelessness (the homeless population) than any other state in the nation, and it does a poor job of sheltering this vulnerable population. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2017 annual homelessness report to Congress (2017 homeless report), […]
Federal regulatory burdens can operate as a hidden tax. Unlike on-budget spending, regulatory costs are largely hidden from public view. This can make regulation overly attractive to lawmakers. For example, a new government job-training initiative could involve either increased government spending or new regulations that require businesses to provide such training. Just as firms generally […]
In his study, Winegarden examines what local, state, and federal governments are spending on subsidies for electric car purchases and manufacturing, and the installation of charging stations. According to his research, 79 percent of electric vehicle plug-in tax credits were claimed by households with adjusted gross incomes of greater than $100,000 per year. Households with […]
Hispanic Intenders and Parents of Intenders more likely than Non-Hispanics to support increased funding for higher education; More than half of Intenders, and Parents of Intenders support CA’s next Governor making post high school degree attainment a top priority Majority of all segments support making college affordability a priority (Intenders, Parents of Intenders, Non-Intenders) More […]
Sustained housing price appreciation could also exert increasingly selective pressure on the kinds of jobs that are feasible to maintain in the expensive metros. Employers who wish to stay in business cannot afford to pay workers a wage that exceeds their contribution to revenue. As a result, employers in the expensive coastal metros would be […]
This leads to our second challenge, how to grow opportunity for the region’s working and middle-class residents. Despite its reputation as an abode for the rich, or at least the very affluent, barely one in three OC residents earns over $75,000, a significantly lower level than many of our competitors. Much of our job growth […]
The tax code provides subsidies for employers to hire ex-felons, to promote employment among low-income workers, and to encourage economic opportunity in distressed areas. These incentives are motivated to different degrees by a belief that economic opportunity facilitates successful reintegration of ex-felons and deters entry into crime. In this paper, we offer a more comprehensive […]
Business executives, including those in clean tech, R&D, manufacturing, and other industries highly coveted by California public officials, say the high costs of housing and real estate, poor quality education system, and expensive costs to do business are among the primary reasons why they are not locating or expanding in the Golden State. These are […]
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) heralded the most significant changes to our federal tax system in over thirty years, affecting both individual and corporate income taxes. The corporate tax changes to a large degree reflected a realization that our federal corporate income tax system was in need of fundamental reform. Our combined federal and […]
Theory suggests that large firms are more likely to engage in lobbying behaviour and are geographically more mobile than smaller entities. Conditional on jurisdiction size, policy choices are thus predicted to depend on the shape of a jurisdiction’s firm size distribution, with more business-oriented policies being enacted if jurisdictions host large firms. The paper empirically […]
Last year, we speculated that our region’s ability to sustain its post-recession growth may be eroding. This year’s update of selected indicators strengthen the case for concern. The region’s innovation industries experienced strong growth in 2016, but substantially lower than that of 2015. More people are now moving out than moving into our prosperous but […]
In 2017, California’s economy grew at an estimated rate of 2.5 percent, faster than the nation as a whole, which grew at 2.4 percent. While impressive, California’s economy continued to slow down from the 3.3 percent year-over year growth achieved in 2016, and from the over 4 percent year-over-year percentage growth seen in 2014 and […]
SBE Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan said: “Fortunately for entrepreneurs and small businesses, the policy environment in terms of taxes and regulations has improved at the federal level over the past year. There is a concerted effort and real action to reduce tax and regulatory burdens on small businesses and entrepreneurs, which has improved […]
We found that these local governments are imposing discretionary review processes on all residential development projects of five or more units within their borders. That means even if these developments comply with the underlying zoning code, they require additional scrutiny from the local government before obtaining a building permit. This triggers CEQA review of these […]