The South Coast Air Quality Management District is one of the state’s most powerful and least accountable government agencies. It enacts and enforces air quality rules and regulations affecting millions of people and thousands of employers in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. From its enormous, gleaming headquarters overlooking the 57 Freeway in Diamond Bar, the AQMD’s power and reach extend from oil refineries to manufacturing facilities down to neighborhood gas stations, leaf blowers and beach fire pits. It sustains itself with money harvested from fees for permits businesses are compelled to obtain and fines AQMD regulators levy on those businesses.

The American system of government is based on the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers into independent… Read More

Preliminary results for the November 3, 2015 elections held in some California counties indicate that voters approved eight of the nine bond measures proposed by a total of eight California school districts. Voter approval means that the districts are now authorized to borrow a specific maximum amount of money for facilities construction by selling bonds to investors. The districts will pay back the investors over time, with interest, by collecting property taxes designated to paying off the bonds.

At this link is a chart (depicted to the right in miniature) that provides the latest preliminary data about the nine bond measures, the election results, and the… Read More

California’s largest state/local government employee pension system, CalPERS, has posted a page on their website called “Myths vs. Facts.” Included among their many rather debatable “facts” is the following assertion, “Pension costs represent about 3.4 percent of total state spending.”

This depends, of course, on what year you’re considering, and what you consider to be direct cost overhead for the state as opposed to pass-throughs from the state to cities and counties. But CalPERS overlooks the fact that most of California’s government workers who collect pensions do not work for the state, they work for cities and counties and school districts. As can be seen on the “view CalPERS employers” page on Transparent California, there are 3,329 distinct employer retirement pension plans administered by CalPERS, and the vast majority of these are not state agencies paid from the state budget, but local agencies.

In a study earlier this year, “… Read More

Personally in this day and age, I’d never start a business in California — certainly not one that hired many employees. The risk/reward ratio is TERRIBLE. One gets FAR better odds at a casino.

Below is yet another trap for hapless employers who are “employee intensive” in their business. One or two of these groundless lawsuits can eat up much or all of a year’s profits.

CA is a litigation lawyer’s “workers’ paradise.” And the collusion between workers and attorneys seeking windfall profits (the profits of others) is bound to grow as word gets out.

http://calwatchdog.com/2015/09/30/cumulative-trauma-law-bdevils-employers-hands-fired-employees-payday/

30Sep, 2015Steve Miller

The Monteleone family opened… Read More

Like inattentive students who dread having their parents see their unsatisfactory grades, most members of the California Legislature would just as soon not have their constituents see the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Legislative Report Card documenting their votes on issues important to taxpayers.

Of the 120 members of the Legislature, 73 received a grade of “F” while only 36 earned an “A” grade.

The Report Card is a non-partisan tool for citizen taxpayers to hold legislators accountable based on actual legislative votes. It was Will Rogers who said, “If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics.” While a satirist is allowed to paint with a broad brush, there is still more than a grain of truth here. Many in the political class dishonestly attempt to present themselves as standing for the interests of average folks. They pay lip service to low and moderate income Californians, while voting to make getting to work more expensive by increasing the already tops in the nation gasoline tax. They claim to be supporters of homeownership, but support measures that would increase the tax burden on property owners.

To read… Read More

The annual Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association [California State] Legislative Report Card report is out. The ratings are based on tax votes, with an emphasis regarding attacks on Prop 13.

As one would expect, since most of our legislators are Democrats, the majority of our legislators rate an “F” ranking on taxes. The table of information can be sorted interactively in each category (I’m easily entertained). http://www.hjta.org/legislation/report-cards/

OBSERVATIONS:

1.When people opine that there’s no difference between the two parties regarding tax and spend issues, they should really be referring to Congress — not the state legislatures (at least the two state legislatures of California). When it comes to tax issues, the difference between the two parties in the Golden State could not be more dramatic. With a handful of exceptions, GOP representatives are doing a very good togreatjob holding the line on taxes and spending. From the… Read More

A reportissued earlier this year from California’s Office of Legislative Analyst “California’s High Housing Costs: Causes and Consequences,” cites the following statistics:“Today, an average California home costs $440,000, about two–and–a–half times the average national home price ($180,000). Also, California’s average monthly rent is about $1,240, 50 percent higher than the rest of the country ($840 per month).”

It’s actually much worse than that. Anyone living on California’s urbanized coast, from Marin Countyto San Diego, has to laugh at the idea that a modest homecan be found for anywhere close to $440,000, or a decent rental can be found for anywhere close to $1,240 per month. In most urban areas within 50 miles of the California coast, finding a home or a monthly rental at twice those amountswould be considered a bargain.

These prohibitive costs for housing are mirrored in California’s unusually highcosts for electricity, gasoline, water, and, of course, California’s unusually high taxes. The cost of living in California… Read More

(Our Annual Update on How to Translate Your Property Tax Bill)

For many the real scare this time of years is not the monsters at our doors on Halloween but the property tax bill in the mail box.

Fortunately, as a direct result of Proposition 13, which limits increases in a property’s assessed value to two percent annually, most property owners have a good idea what their tax bill will be even before opening the envelope. However, like we do every year about this time, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association reminds taxpayers to carefully examine their latest property tax bill. Although not common, there may be mistakes.

Taxpayers should understand the various charges and make certain that they are not being assessed for more than they are legally obligated to pay. The best way to check a tax bill is to have your previous year’s bill handy for reference.

Checking the bill is especially important for those who bought their homes a few years ago at the height of the market. If your home value is actually lower than the assessed value shown on the tax bill, you should consider applying for a reduction in taxes. (Sometimes called a… Read More