The Orange County Taxpayers Association released their public critique of the California Tax Commission in the form of a letter from its President, Reed Royalty, to Commission Member Curt Pringle. I thought it was quite good….

September 28, 2009 The Honorable Curt Pringle Member, California Commission on the 21st Century Economy State of California Department of Finance 915 L Street, 8th Floor Sacramento CA 95814 Dear Commissioner Pringle, Thank you for your… Read More

Let’s Tax Services and Make Everything Worse By The Honorable Michelle Steel, Member, Board of Equalization We’re all over-regulated. A recent study for the California Small Business Advocate’s Office shows that regulation costs California’s families $492,994 billion. This translates to a total cost per household of $38,446.76 – just about the median household income – or $13,052.05 per resident. In terms of jobs, this means 3.8 million lost jobs – that’s a tenth of California’s total population! Because of high regulation, we lose a third of gross state output and four and a half times the state budget every year.… Read More

The Governor’s Commission on the 21st Century Economy delivered its much anticipated report today. Some of the recommendations are valid and should be embraced by the Legislature. But unfortunately, the report also calls for a hidden tax on business (known as the business net receipts tax) that would lead to taxing services.

At a time when California’s business climate is the third worst in the nation and when its unemployment rate is breaking Depression-era records, the notion of a hidden tax will go over like a lead balloon with taxpayers, with economists and certainly with Republicans.

How can we support any idea that will make California less competitive in business, kill jobs and evaporate the entrepreneurial spirit that Californian is known for the world-over? It’s obvious that further taxation will do all of these things, and in the process send California’s business climate to rock bottom and push our joblessness rate through the roof.

Perhaps instead, Legislative leaders and the governor should get serious about… Read More

MY DAD AND KAREN BASS Yesterday was one of the Jewish High Holidays – Yom Kippur. My mom and dad, who are members of Temple Akiba in Culver City, attended the Temple’s Yom Kippur services at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Who should be there but the local member of the California State Assembly, Speaker Karen Bass. My dad took the opportunity to introduce himself to Speaker Bass, identifying himself as a Republican. When the Speaker asked for dad’s name, which he gave her, she asked if he was any relation to me! She proceeded to tell my father that the FlashReport is a "must read" for her every day! Maybe it is, or maybe it isn’t — but it was very cool of her to say that to dad! And polite to leave it at that ;-) CONSIDERING… Read More

MY DAD AND KAREN BASS Yesterday was one of the Jewish High Holidays – Yom Kippur. My mom and dad, who are members of Temple Akiba in Culver City, attended the Temple’s Yom Kippur services at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Who should be there but the local member of the California State Assembly, Speaker Karen Bass. My dad took the opportunity to introduce himself to Speaker Bass, identifying himself as a Republican. When the Speaker asked for dad’s name, which he gave her, she asked if he was any relation to me! She proceeded to tell my father that the FlashReport is a "must read" for her every day! Maybe it is, or maybe it isn’t — but it was very cool of her to say that to dad! And polite to leave it at that ;-)

CONSIDERING THE TAX COMMISSION REPORT AS A PACKAGE … Read More

I just read that former California Republican Party Chairman Bob Naylor, who had endorsed Steve Poizner at some point, has now pulled that, and instead endorsed Meg Whitman. I admit that I wasn’t impressed to see Naylor on Poizner’s endorsement list, nor will I be to see it on Whitman’s. Naylor is a controversial figure in GOP circles because he always seems to side with the special interests that he represents as a lobbyist over the interests of the Republican Party he once lead.

An extremely affable guy, this former Assembly Republican Leader is definitely NOT in the "mainstream" of Republican thought. Naylor was one of the only, if not the only former CRP Chairman to endorse the controversial Proposition 1A, which if passed would have smacked California taxpayers with over $16 billion in higher sales, income and car taxes. Just this summer Naylor penned a… Read More

Juliet Williams over at the Associated Press has the story.

Excerpt: She says for most of her adult life, she was raising a family, working, and focusing on her husband’s career. But Whitman says that’s no excuse for failing to register or vote. UPDATE: Here is a more complete and direct response from Whitman on the issue.… Read More

This was the famous reminder posted in all of then Governor Bill Clinton’s campaign offices as he ran for President against then incumbent George H.W. Bush. It was there to keep the campaign from being distracted by other issues and to focus on the fact that the economy was bad and people were hurting. It worked.

But the economy is much worse now. And as President Obama fiddles away in the White House with a government take-over of health care, the economy is far from being out of the woods.

Yes, the economy will almost certainly be declared to be technically out of recession in this quarter. Things have stopped getting worse. Monthly job losses have declined. But we should not be sanguine. There are 4 major risks on the horizon which could lead us into a "double dip" or "W-shaped" recession next year. Many economists, including some of President Obama’s advisors, have told me they think that the risk of slipping back into recession next year is at least 50%.

What would cause that to happen? See the following:

1.) First of all, this "recovery" is weak and jobless. There… Read More