Here’s a nasty tax that Californians pay every year. It’s a tax that you are probablycompletelyunaware of — a tax that is charged in only 6 other states. When you pay for your California homeowners policy, life insurance, car insurance, health insurance, business insurance, annuity — ANY insurance product except “tax qualified” plans (annuity retirement plans, primarily) — hidden inside your insurance bill is a 2.35% CA premium tax — essentially a sales tax. It’s not broken out as a tax in your bill, nor discussed by your insurance companies when you buy their products.

It’s a tax in lieu of the insurance companies paying a corporate income tax on NET profits — the way the vast majority of states choose to tax insurance corporations (if they have a state corporate income tax at all, of course).

I don’t know for sure exactly how we compare with other states overall on this tax, but I DID find the figures on how we rank with our 2.35%… Read More

Today the Governor released a budget that reflects his priorities. I’m encouraged by his continued commitment to pay down debt and phase out Proposition 30’s temporary tax increases.

But at its core, the Governor’s budget grows state government spending to record levels. I’m concerned that tax-and-spend legislators will push for even more spending, taxes and regulations that will rob Californians of freedom and jobs.

Republicans must resist the siren song to grow big government even bigger. Instead, we must offer compelling free-market alternatives that prioritize jobs, education and public safety.… Read More

Californians just found out this week the new gas tax initiated by the California Air Resources Board, is 10 cents per gallon of gas. However, it will grow.January 1, California began including transportation fuels – gasoline, diesel and propane – in the nation’s first carbon emission cap-and-trading scheme. However, no other state or country in the world has attempted to regulate the sale of gasoline and diesel under a cap-and-trade program, and byAB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act,which requires cutting greenhouse gas emissions in California to 1990 levels by year 2020.

… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, we are pleased to present this column from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.]

If you are new to the FlashReport, please check out the main site and the acclaimed FlashReport Weblog… Read More

Desperate to get any part of California’s High Speed Rail built, Gov. Jerry Brown pushed the groundbreaking for the rail system upto Tuesday, just as the new Republican Congress is getting settled.

The motive? Democrats want to get their hands on $3.5 billion in federal stimulus money. And, there’s no time like the present… following a recent Third District Court of Appeal ruling which overturned a Sacramento Superior Court decision which contended that the funding plan for the high-speed rail project violated the ballot measure voters approved in 2008.

Dan Richard, chairman of the board of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said they would move “aggressively” to build “a modern high-speed rail system that connects the state, creates jobs and complies with the law.”

There’s no time to waste lest another legal decision derail their plans.“Jobs, jobs, jobs” was the campaign rally cry for Jerry Brown during his 2010 run for governor, when he vowed his support for high-speed rail. He supported it so much it’s earned the nickname the “Browndoggle.”

In January 2013, Brown held carefully staged signing… Read More

Conservatives in America are at a crossroads. They face a choice between greater freedom or greater security. While striking this delicate balance has required ongoing policy choices throughout history, recent events involving law enforcement have brought these choices into sharp focus. Here’s how Patrik Johnson, writing last month in theChristian Science Monitor, described the choice:

“Police forces nationwide are being pulled between two opposite trends: more empathetic, community policing and an increasingly militarized response to crises.”

How conservatives, on balance, weigh in on this choice has far reaching consequences. On one hand, conservatives can support suggested reforms that embrace the value of empathy, minimize violence, alleviate tensions, and pave the way for 21st century policing appropriate to a free republic. Here is a key reform advocated by the protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, in reaction to the tensions in that city following a police shooting:

“A comprehensive review by the Department of… Read More

There is always much discussion about what keeps the major political parties dominant in American politics, and what makes it nearly impossible for “independents” to get elected. Some say money, established donors. Certainly. Some say ingrained voter habits. Of course. But there is more to it. One of the great strengths of the parties is that they have a cadre of loyal paid and unpaid workers. Over the years, many of these people become the keepers of knowledge, or party myth, or both. They become stable pillars around which the party operates.

This week one such Republican, Ann Whitley, is retiring from the California Republican Party. I’m 44, and I don’t remember a CRP without Ann. I actually have no idea what her title is – maybe “One of Those People Who Have Watched Everything and Know Everyone and Can Give You the Kind of Advice Which Will Make You Look Smarter Than You Are.” More to the point, through good and bad decades Ann has been a stable face at the CRP, a person everyone knew was fair and decent.

Ann Whitley will probably rarely be quoted in the paper, or seen spouting off on the television news. You… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: As partof an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at theFlashReport, we are pleased to present this column from Assembly GOP Leader Kristin Olsen.] If you are newto the FlashReport, please check out the main site and the acclaimed FlashReport Weblog on California politics. … Read More