I’ve written before about how — for many Californians — the Golden State income tax is LOW. It’s not as low as the 7 states with zero state income tax, but for many it’s lower than MOST states. That’s because CA has the most “progressive” income tax in the nation. As my 2013 example showed, a family of four (two minor kids) making a modest $50,000 salary and taking only the standard deduction pays a whopping $73 CA state income tax. Most states levy a higher tax — often MUCH higher. If that family makes $40K, they actually pay LESS than zero state income tax — they get exemption credits back (like the federal EITC credit program). http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=966111884939957147#editor/target=post;postID=4138464434125132809 But I thought I’d take it a step further — comparing the CA progressive income tax with the FEDERAL progressive … Read More

“In politics, a big tent or catch-all party is a political party seeking to attract people with diverse viewpoints and thus appeal to more of the electorate. The big tent approach is opposed to single-issue litmus tests and ideological rigidity, conversely advocating multiple ideologies and views within a party.” – Wikipedia, “Big Tent“

Something is happening in California. An unstoppable movement for reform is building, attracting support from conscientious Californians regardless of their age, income, race, gender or political ideology. The metaphor of a “big tent” aptly describes the approach that reform leaders are finally embracing.

The fabric of this big tent is supported by two poles, one representing restoring quality education, the other representing restoring financial health to California’s public institutions. But the big tent metaphor breaks down somewhat if it describes a political party. Because most of California’s reform leaders no longer care who gets it done, or what political party takes credit. They just want to Californian children to… Read More

This morning I’ll address conservative legislators from across America at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) States and Nation Policy Summit in Washington DC. My topic: the 2014 election results and lessons for the future. Since it’s a national group, I’ll focus on the big picture. Yet, there are very important lessons to be learned from what happened in California. Let’s take a look.

Even in a strong “wave” election year like 2014, the wave itself is not the dominant force in driving outcomes.

For all of the “major” changes resulting from the wave, the strongest force on Election Day was that of incumbency. The vast majority of elected officials who sought re-election, of either party, won.

Looking nationally, even with a strong pro-Republican wave, the total number of Democrat governors defeated on Election Day was exactly…one: Democrat Pat Quinn of Illinois. Meanwhile, eight Democrat governors were re-elected. The remaining three governor seats Republicans picked up were races where no incumbent appeared on the ballot: Arkansas, Maryland and Massachusetts.

In California state elections,… Read More

“In this season ofThanksgiving, please don’t blame taxpayers if they are distracted by the injuries being perpetrated against them by our political class.” These words were the preface of this column at the beginning of the holiday season in 2008 and, sadly, little has changed. In fact, in many ways taxpayers are worse off now than they were then.

Six years ago, California’s tax burden was ranked 6th nationally.Todaywe trail only New York as the worst state for taxpayers. We now rank first in state sales tax, first in marginal income tax rates, first in gasoline tax and, even with Proposition 13, we rank in the top third in per capita property taxes. Because Proposition 13 makes it harder for California to overtake New York as our nation’s number one taxpayer hell, one can expect new efforts by Sacramento politicians to undermine its protections in the new legislative session.

Some of our state leaders like to chirp happily about California’s declining unemployment rate, but only three states are worse off and our 7.3 percent rate is much higher than the national rate of 5.8 percent. Still, all these figures are suspect because they… Read More

California, the state obsessed with being first at everything, is aiming to add another first to its record books — Not content to be the first state in the country to tax the air we breathe, California will be the first in the nation to impose a cap and trade tax on transportation fuels.

In response, Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, and Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford, and more than 20 other Republican lawmakers, announced Monday, the introduction of theAffordable Gas for California Families Act,legislation to exempt transportation fuels and natural gas from the California Air Resource Board’scap-and-trade program.

The move afoot by the radical left to strip Americans of their cars under the guise of environmentalism, knows no bounds.

With the second highest gas taxes in the country, and a flailing cap and trade program, whose only trading partner is Quebec,California is already paying the price.

While the rest of the country is currently enjoying lower gas prices, Californians will be faced with a hefty new… Read More

However little the Republicans Party offered voters in the Nov. election, the Democrats offered far worse. Democrats showed once again they are more interested in ginning up discontent and unrest in America as long as this unrest puts Democrats in office. They care nothing for governing the country or for the health and welfare of its citizens.

They’ve proven they have no interest in healthy race relationships and instead work exactly opposite in order to gain and retain political offices.

“Most Americans are put off by the ‘us versus them’ tone of current political debates, and most prefer political leaders who ‘are… Read More

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I received an email this morning from term-limited Supervisor John Moorlach, who has decided to run for the State Senate.

It’s the overwhelmingly Republican 37th State Senate seat currently occupied by Mimi Walters. She will vacate the seat when she is sworn into Congress in January, setting the table for a special election.

Moorlach joins Assemblyman Don Wagner who has already announced his candidacy (see his blog post announcing his candidacy on this site).

Both Moorlach and Wagner are conservatives, the former being a bit more iconic because of his prediction of the County of Orange’s bankruptcy back in the 90’s.

Neither Moorlach nor Wagner are known as being prolific fundraisers — though Wagner has had his eye in this seat for some time and starts with a head start.

One big question is whether the presence of two conservative foreshadows a more moderate entry into the race.

If Moorlach can raise (or self fund) 200k or more he would be very formidable for anyone, including Wagner, to beat. But that’s a big if. Moorlach… Read More

by Richard Rider UPDATED: November, 2014

In 2011 the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat for the NBA title. The next year the upstart Oklahoma Thunder lost to the Miami Heat in the NBA finals. In 2013 the Miami Heat repeated, defeating the aging San Antonio Spurs. In 2014 the ageless Spurs avenged their loss from the previous year, beating the Heat in the finals.

What did these VERY different teams have in common? With the exception of the Thunder, all the finalists are “housed” in states with zero state income tax! Moreover, Oklahoma’s top state income tax is a rather modest 5.25% — and there are proposals to further lower this top OK tax bracket.

Coincidence? Maybe. Was this factor the ONLY reason these teams made it to the finals? Definitely not!

But because of a little-known change in the 2013 federal income tax law, this match-up of low/no tax income state finalists in pro sports playoffs may become more and more common. This change is particularly bad news for California sports fans.

State income taxes has always been a consideration for the truly wealthy. But starting in 2013, for income above $2 million,… Read More