This past Thursday I had the opportunity to welcome High Desert business owners to a “Business Survival” workshop.

I didn’t say, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” – despite the fact that San Bernardino County and the Town of Apple Valley had assembled an impressive array of experts, services and information. It was because these folks know that, next to the national economy and their competitors, government is their biggest problem.

So in part because I have private-sector experience and an education in business and economic development, I explained, I’m one elected official who believes that government should simply get out of the way of business owner/employers as much as possible.

But as my audience was already painfully aware, in California, this has not been the prevailing view of state government for quite some time. And although San Bernardino County, especially the High Desert, has a lot to offer in the way of incentives – from affordable land and labor to business-friendly local governments – the limits of our local discretion are illustrated by the struggles of the City of Needles, which I represent.

A… Read More

I usually don’t respond to what others have said here on the Flash Report, because usually no response is required, but as I was doing my morning reading (for me it is morning, since I am on the other side of the world right now, and yes, the Flash Report is the first thing I read when I wake up here). I saw Jennifer Nelson’s comments, and I thought, I really understand the frustration.

In 1991, Pete Wilson raised taxes, and pushed legislators to do the same, basically saying what Ms. Nelson said–Democrats exploded spending in the 1980’s, and when George Deukmejian resisted, the Dems went out and passed Prop 98, which has literally destroyed any semblance of spending control since then. Republicans were blamed for the tax increase.

Between 1998, in the midst of a then record increase in spending (from $43 billion general fund in the 1996-97 budget to $57 billion gf in the 1998-99 budget), Republicans pushed for and received a $4 billion car tax cut. Spending in the next two budget cycles (1999-2000 and 2000-01) increased $22 billion, from $57 billion gf to $79 billion gf. Guess who and what got blamed for the deficits of $11 billion… Read More

The Americans for Tax Reform "no new taxes" pledge is a commitment and a promise that is made between an officeholder and the constituents they represent. No one is forced to take the pledge — signing it is a voluntary act that a candidate takes if they feel strongly enough that the tax burden on their constituents is too high.

The wording of the pledge is very straight forward: "I [candidate name] pledge to the taxpayers of the [#] district of the State of [California] and all of the people of this state that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to raise taxes.

The pledge is much maligned by the political left and the media elite who do not know how to cope with the idea that there can be a principle so critically important to a fiscal conservative that they would sign a pledge.… Read More

This morning a press conference was held, conducted by a group of taxpayer advocacy organizations and pro-taxpayer state legislators. They included Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Tom Hudson, the executive director of the California Taxpayer Protection Committee, Ted Costa, president of The People’s Advocate, Chris Hunt, executive director of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, and Assemblymembers Ted Gaines, Curt Hagman and Roger Niello.

The commentary below was penned by Assemblyman Gaines, who is pictured speaking at the conference at the State Capitol… (Also in this particular photo, from left to right are Jon Coupal, Curt Hagman, Roger Niello, and Tom Hudson)

The Americans for Tax Reform "no new taxes" pledge is a commitment and a promise that is made between an officeholder and the constituents they represent. No one is forced to take the pledge — signing it is a voluntary act that a candidate takes if they feel strongly enough that the tax burden on their constituents is too high.

The wording of the pledge is very straight forward: "I [candidate name] pledge to the taxpayers of the [#] district of the State of [California] and all of the people of this state that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to raise taxes.

The pledge is much maligned by the political left and the media elite who do not know how to cope with the idea that there can be a principle so critically important to a fiscal conservative that they would sign a pledge.… Read More

I have added up the reported unpaid taxes by various Obama Cabinet nominees and note that without penalties and interest they amount to over $210,000. With penalties and interest, I think Obama’s cabinet owes or owed the Treasury about $300,000. We haven’t figured in what Bill Richardson owes in addition, as his own pay-to-play scandal works itself out in New Mexico.

What were these people, these Ivy League guys in Obama’s cabinet, thinking?

I recall in 1989 when Senate Democrats stopped cold Bush Senior’s Republican-nominee Senator John Tower from being Secretary of Defense, just because they could. Their biggest argument was that he liked to take a drink every few days of what Tower himself termed "beverage alcohol." Not a very apt description, but still, it was not that big a deal. He just liked to drink. (He also liked normal female companionship.) So does everybody else in Washington. And Republican Tower paid his taxes.

Bush Senior nominee Clarence Thomas was almost defeated from his nomination to the Supreme Court because of an alleged statement he made to… Read More

(If this post seems familiar, we’ve used the "Disneyland" analogy below before, as this isn’t the first time that the liberals in the media have "lept" onto a briefly worded survey to assert informed public opinion.)

As FR contributor and public opinion pollster Adam Probolsky likes to say, a poll is only as good as what you ask, and to whom you ask it. So I was quite amused to see so much enthusiasm erupt from the liberal media and left-wing Democrats when the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released their latest survey response — where PPIC declares that the public supports (hold onto your chair) HIGHER TAXES.

If you go to Page 27 of the full report of the PPIC survey, you can see the actual questions asked to those surveyed. What is most instructive if you read it is… Read More

(If this post seems familiar, we’ve used the "Disneyland" analogy below before, as this isn’t the first time that the liberals in the media have "lept" onto a briefly worded survey to assert informed public opinion.) As FR contributor and public opinion pollster Adam Probolsky likes to say, a poll is only as good as what you ask, and to whom you ask it. So I was quite amused to see so much enthusiasm erupt from the liberal media and left-wing Democrats when the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released their latest survey response — where PPIC declares that the public supports (hold onto your chair) HIGHER TAXES.

If you go to Page 27 of the full report of the PPIC… Read More