With increased tax revenue and economic growth, why are local governments asking voters to approve more taxes? A report by the League of California Cities notes that city pension costs will increase more than 50 percent by the fiscal year 2024-25, and will reach “unsustainable levels.” The report states: “Often, revenue growth from the improved […]
In June, California lawmakers approved a new state budget with a healthy $16 billion reserve, reflecting California’s strength as the fifth largest economy in the world. Now that the state has recovered from the depths of the Great Recession, it seems odd that lawmakers are still proposing higher taxes and fees. Since the start of […]
The proposed tax increase, dubbed the “Living Wage for Educators Act of 2018” by supporters, would impose an annual $298 parcel tax, increased annually for inflation, for 30 years. The cost for each property owner would be $8,940 if the rate remained at $298 for the entire 30 years, but the cost is likely to […]
California’s Unemployment Insurance Fund is projected to have a positive balance by the end of 2018, marking the first time since 2008 that the employer-funded account will end in the black, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) reported October 31. California in 2009 began borrowing from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits, and in 2012 the debt triggered a reduction in California employers’ Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) credit. The FUTA credit reduction has carried over every year since then, costing employers approximately $9.5 billion in additional tax from 2012 through 2018 (as projected by the EDD).
Since 2012, the Los Angeles Unified School District has had the highest percentage of its bond funds going toward staff salaries and benefits. In that district – the state’s largest – 19.9 percent of school bonds have been spent on salaries and benefits.
Xero, a company that makes accounting software for small businesses, this month moved its U.S. headquarters from San Francisco to Denver. . . chief executive Rod Drury expects that will expand to ‘a few hundred’ as he tries to build a mass of people in a more affordable city than San Francisco, where its U.S. leadership team has previously been based. Drury said San Francisco was a ‘great place to get started’ and the first port of call to raise capital, but as the company moves into an ‘operational phase’ he had to weigh up whether to stay in that city or move.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors considered a resolution February 14 asking the state Legislature to grant local governments the authority to impose personal and corporate income taxes.