A coalition of government employee unions has filed an initiative that would extend the temporary income tax hikes that were contained in Proposition 30 and approved by voters in 2012.

If this seems like, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “déjà vu all over again,” it’s not your imagination. This is just the tax raisers running their favorite play from “The Book of Dirty Tricks on Taxpayers.” First they persuade taxpayers to accept a tax by marketing it as temporary. Once taxpayers have become inured to paying it, the tax raisers move in to extend it or make it permanent.

Big spending politicians and their allied government employee unions count on taxpayers having short memories to make this scam work. For example, look at the 1.25% sales tax increase political elites pushed in 1991 to deal with a budget gap. A half-cent was supposed to be temporary but when it came time to expire the Legislature placed it on the ballot promoting it as necessary for “public safety.” Voters — by then used to paying the higher tax — swallowed the hook and we continue to pay the entire 1.25% increase initiated almost twenty-five years ago.

To… Read More

Every Four Years, A Golden Opportunity for Revenue Enhancement

November 8, 2016 will likely be a triumphant day for Californians who believe individuals, households, and businesses aren’t giving enough of their money to the government.

The recent deliberation and turmoil in the California legislature about tax increases will be handed off to voters, who will make quick decisions based primarily on deceptive ballot titles. Meanwhile, as many as 150 local K-12 school and community college districts will ask voters for authorization to borrow money for construction via bond sales. In addition, voters will get to consider local parcel taxes, utility taxes, transportation taxes, San Francisco Bay Restoration taxes – all sorts of taxes.

Why is this election going to be so special? Political consultants assume that Californians inspired to vote because of the historic candidacy of Hillary Clinton for President will extend their excitement to the approval of taxes, borrowing, and spending farther down the ballot.

This assumption is based on performance of bond measures and proposed tax increases in the past two presidential… Read More

When the 2015 legislative session began, 13 Republicans entered the Senate and Assembly chambers as California Trailblazers alumni. While they are all very different individuals, their success was based on a shared commitment to running smart, running hard and never letting up until all the votes were counted. It wasn’t easy, but today, it’s paying dividends for their constituents and all Californians.

Young Kim, Janet Nyguen, Catharine Baker and David Hadley illustrate how California Trailblazers is making a difference in the state legislature. Trailblazer candidates stopped Democrat supermajorities in both houses, and just last week, they helped block Democrat… Read More

EXPLANATORY NOTE: I published this column on FlashReport about four years ago, but I’m seeing the same fallacies coming up again and again, compliments of the public employee labor union bosses. Remediation is in order. Here’s my updated version.

What is an “implicit fallacy?” Well, I made up the term, because I can’t find an exact definition that fits. It’s sometimes more formally referred to as an “Unwarranted Presumption.”

As I see it, it’s an assertion based on a flawed premise — but a premise that is NOT stated. It is just assumed — implied, if you will. In the field of government pensions, I have noticed that many a labor unions assertion is based on such an implicit fallacy. Often when the assumption is actually stated (as I do below), it becomes ludicrous on its face.

Not all ten of the union assertions below fit this definition perfectly, but they all have one thing in common — they are inaccurate statements — if not outright lies. And… Read More

How would parents react if they knew their kids were attending community college with convicted violent criminals and gang members?

This is today’s reality and a result of Assembly Bill 109, passed in 2011, and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.

There are 55 known street gangs in Sacramento, CA. Two of these gangs clashed at Sacramento City College Sept. 3, leaving one man dead, two others seriously injured, and a college campus in fear.

But the recent… Read More

Last month an article entitled “Pensions as Economic Stimulus” was posted toFox & Hounds Daily. The author,Charles Beckwith, is a former CalPERS senior financial manager. Beckwith’s article, while thoughtful, invites a response. Because California’s pension systems may stimulate the economy in some ways, but equally significant ways, they are killing the economy.

Beckwith’s primary argument is this: California’s pension systems pay out over $3.0 billion per month to retired state and local government workers, who go out and spend this money, “at auto repair shops, home improvement centers, tuition for grandchildren, hair salons, rent, and at a thousand other small and large businesses.”

The problem with this reasoning rests on a fundamental assumption Beckwith makes, which is that all the money taken from taxpayers to fund these pension investments would not have created a similar economic stimulus if they had been free to spend it themselves. Mr. Beckwithgoes on to extol the virtues of professional financial managers placing pension fund… Read More

The United States is widely considered the most desirable country in the world. In many respects that is true — some objective, and some subjective.

But one area that we definitely are in decline is freedom. The Frazier Institute has been grading the countries of the world for many years, and have documented our decline since the turn of the century. In 1980 we ranked #2. In 2000 we were ranked #2. In the new 2015 report (using 2013 data), we rank 16th,3 slots lower than the year before.

Sure, we’re still ranked much better than most countries. But the direction we are heading is disturbing, to put it gently. Even worse, the RATE of our decent seems to be accelerating. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/economic-freedom-of-the-world-2015.pdf— the detailed U.S. history is on page 188 of the PDF file… Read More

When it comes to carrying out the death penalty for convicted murders, the California Legislature finds the lethal drug cocktails “cruel and unusual punishment,” which they say is a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Yet lawmakers were more than willing to approve a lethal drug cocktail to allow sick people to kill themselves.

After months of contentious and difficult wrangling, the California Legislature has finally passed the controversial physician assisted suicide bill, which now awaits Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature or veto. But many argue that passage of legalized physician-assisted suicide would provide perverse incentives for insurance carriers to choose the… Read More