There is a clamor in Sacramento for “tax reform.” But for every political pundit, politician and bureaucrat in the room, there is a different definition of “tax reform.”

For fiscal conservatives, tax reform means tax cuts. The State of California takes too much of our money now and this heavy tax burden unquestionably hurts working families and hinders economic growth

But for self-styled “progressives,” tax reform means even more tax hikes to feed an ever growing government and the demands of tax hungry special interests.

Because these two visions of “tax reform” are polar opposites, is it even possible to agree on anything related to changing California’s tax system? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

Both conservatives and liberals have at least acknowledged that California government is too reliant on revenue that fluctuates wildly. In other words, there is some agreement that the mix of things that are taxed might be altered so that tax revenue is more predictable

To read the rest of this column please click here… Read More

Here’s an interesting exercise in NFL economics. Some “sports economist” referenced in the otherwise excellent U-T article below (Gee, I wonder who funds his academic chair?) has projected that a new San Diego stadium will mean $50 million more annually for the Chargers.

Put aside for the moment the biased nature of this “study.” Suppose it’s true.

A. From increased stadium revenues that go to the Chargers.

Is the $50 million a “net to the Charger (and visiting NFL teams)” figure?

A. Apparently so.

Who ponies up the extra revenues?

A. Corporations renting sky boxes and fans buying tickets.

How many games a year?

A. 8 regular season games. It’s doubtful the new stadium… Read More

Environmentalists claim global warming can be mitigated, but only by if humans are forced to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This pseudo-science is what the California Air Resources Board has adopted to control human activity.

If this sounds a little woo-woo, remember the CARB is the state agency which, under Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solution Act of 2006, expanded its mandatein order to link up in a cap and trade scheme with Quebec, and Canada’s international Ecosystem Marketplace offset… Read More

On Sunday, January 18, 2015, two interesting things happened in the history of Republican outreach to the black community in Los Angeles. The first is that, at 3:00 in the afternoon, the libertarian leaning Republican Liberty Caucus held its first meeting in South Los Angeles, (featuring addresses from inner-city figures such as host of Compton Politics Lorenzo Murphy). Then at 6:00, officers were elected to fill seats for the first chapter of the conservative California Republican Assembly ever established to represent Inglewood and South Los Angeles.

Neither of these events are earth shattering in their significance in and of themselves. Yet they represent a trend… Read More

A Defense of Proposition 13 Property Tax Revenues by Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax Fighters ***Updated 28 January, 2015*** Phone: 858-530-3027 Email: RRider92131@GMail.com Blog:www.RiderRants.BlogSpot.com When it comes to gathering sufficient property taxes, Prop 13 is no problem at all–except for profligate spenders. Look at the history of my San Diego County–a history which pretty much reflects the history of property taxes in theurban/suburbancounties that hold over 85% of California’s population. According to San Diego County, in 1977–the year BEFORE Prop 13 took effect (when everything was working great, … Read More

In January 2010 the California’s legislature passed into law, perhaps uncharacteristically, an excellent new law. Entitled “Public schools: Race to the Top,”SB 54created two mechanisms for parents to exert greater control over the education of their children.

There are two components:

(1) The Open Enrollment Actmandates that the California Department of Education to annually create a list of 1,000 schools ranked by their Academic Performance Index. Parents whose children are enrolled in these schools have the right to transfer them to a better performing school.

(2)The “Parent Trigger” Law, which allows parents to transform their own schools if 50% of parents sign a petition to seek a change at their chronically underperforming school.

Open enrollment has had an immediate benefit to California’s parents in poor schools, both because individually parents have been able to get their children out of poor schools, and also because the mere ability of parents to remove their students from poor schools provides a powerful… Read More

The political left always talks about the importance of counting every vote, right up until they don’t want the result of that vote, as in the case of the workers at Gerawan Farming, Inc.

Despite chilly, foggy temperatures, Gerawan Farming workers traveled from California’s Central Valley, to the state Capitol last Thursday to hold yet another rally and meet with lawmakers. But it wasn’t your average worker rally – these farm workers want the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to count the workers’ votes from the November 2013 election to decertify the United Farm Workers union.

UFW founder Cesar Chavez must be rolling over in his grave.

The UFW is working with the ALRB to force the farm workers into a collective bargaining agreement that the thousands of workers don’t want. The United Farm Workers narrowly won an election to represent Gerawan Farming’s workers 24 years ago. But after only one bargaining session, and no contract in place, the union disappeared and wasn’t heard from for more than two… Read More

San Diego voters have a right to know who is trying to influence our local elections. Yet a proposal going before the County Board of Supervisors will mean more dark money and less transparency in our local politics.

Our local political parties are broad based, democratically governed and transparent. In fact, our political parties are the only organizations involved in local elections with these important qualities that make them accountable.

The proposal would sharply curtail the ability of political parties to directly contribute to county candidates, with a limit of about 1 cent (not dollar, cent) per voter for countywide candidates, and about 3 cents per voter for supervisor candidates. Donors and special interests who wish to support candidates in excess of these limits will shift their funds elsewhere. Often, that’s under ground. And everybody knows it.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, the First Amendment protects every American’s right to make unlimited contributions to so-called “independent expenditure” committees.

These “IE’s” conduct… Read More