It’s no secret that Californians pay more in taxes than those in neighboring states. We’re at the top of the charts when it comes to the state sales tax, our corporate tax rates are the highest in the west, and drivers here pay one of the steepest gas taxes in the country. Yet, despite these facts, some in Sacramento don’t think these taxes are enough.

Their primary target is undoing the taxpayer protections put in place by voters over three decades ago through Proposition 13. Passed in 1978 when inflation… Read More

By Tom Tanton and Katy Grimes

Many in America have grown convinced the world would become Utopia if it wasn’t for evil, dirty oil.Ironically, these oil critics are alwayssuccessful beneficiaries of the U.S. free enterprise system. When theydemonize oil profits,they show just how misinformed they are.

The relationship between oil and gas, and humans, is inextricably linked. As a nation’s economy grows, its oil consumption naturally follows suit.

Would America be a better place without the “Big Oil” and gas industry? Or is the vehemence behind demonizing oil and gas just a ploy for extracting exorbitant and punitive taxes? The… Read More

On Tuesday, July 1 at 10:00 a.m. I will be hosting a telephone townhall for California’s manufacturers. The free event, co-hosted by the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, will provide information on tax issues specific to the manufacturing industry, including the new manufacturing sales tax exemption that takes effect July 1, 2014.

The manufacturing sector employs more than one million Californians and adds more than $200 billion to our economy every year. My goal is to help manufacturers understand California’s complicated tax laws and ensure they are aware of the valuable new tax incentive available to them.

Those wishing to participate may register online at www.boe.ca.gov/townhall or by calling 916-445-3032.

Individuals who pre-register will receive a telephone call at the start of the event inviting them to connect to the townhall. During the event, callers will have an opportunity to ask questions.… Read More

The appetite of liberal or corrupt politicians to suck money out of the private economy, by virtually any means possible, so that they can redistribute it to those persons or causes they favor, is voracious.

This never ending “hunger” to spend, as Nobel-Prize-Winning economist Arthur Laffer refers to it, OPM — which stands for “other people’s money” has led to a generation of terrible laws and regulations being promulgated by governments at every level.

The latest entry into this is a proposal before the California legislature to grant certain favored interests the privilege to operate online poker sites on the internet. In return, of course, these “lucky few” interests pay for their new exclusive franchise through two routes — the first is that state government becomes, in essence, their business partner, taking a percentage of the profits presumably straight into the general fund. Perhaps more ironic is the pay-for-play side of the equation, where these “lucky few” maintain and enhance the quality of life of their politician-patrons with direct campaign contributions, donations to their… Read More

This week theCalifornia Policy Center(CPC) released 2013 payroll and pension data (the most recent data available) onTransparentCalifornia.com, the largest ever online database of California state and local government employee pensions, salaries, and benefits. The data shows that public compensation in California is growing more out of control, threatening the solvency of the state and local governments.

This new 2013 data includes pension data from the big state pension systems and payroll data from state agencies, counties, the CalState system, and community colleges. It shows egregious examples of misplaced taxpayer funds. Most notably, one assistant fire chief with the Los Angeles Fire Department earned a pension payout of $998,456. On the payroll side, the Alameda County Administrator made $654,000 in total compensation in 2013, while her assistant made $338,000.

For anyone who wants to view – and download – information from the most comprehensive collection of pay, benefit, and pension data ever compiled for California’s state and local… Read More

Part ll in a two part series. Part l can be found here.

Last week I wrote about a recent Senate Budget Committee cap and trade hearing and the billions of dollars expected to be generated by the Air Resource Board’s cap and trade auctions.

One of the issued I posed was the original purpose of passage of AB 32, the legislation under which the cap and trade hearings are conducted.AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, established the goal of reducing… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: We are pleased to present this original commentary from Neel Kashkari, Republican Nominee for Governor of California. — Flash]

The Legislature’s budget powerfully demonstrates how out of touch Sacramento is with the rest of California. While so many California families struggle to make ends meet, the Legislature approved a $156 billion budget plan that will set another spending record and is more than $15 billion higher than the 2013-14 budget.

Per Gov. Jerry Brown’s wishes, the Legislature is hammering working families by increasing what they pay at the gas pump to fund his $68 billion pet High Speed Rail project. Starting next year, Cap and Trade regulations go into effect and will raise the price of gasoline on all Californians by about 12 cents per gallon. These higher taxes will deposit billions more per year into the state’s Cap and Trade fund. And under the Legislature’s budget, not only will $250 million be directed from the Cap and Trade account towards High Speed Rail this coming fiscal year, but 25 percent of all future Cap and Trade taxes… Read More

How can you tell we are in an election year? Look at the various pieces of legislation where the once foe is now a friend, but after Nov. 6th, will probably become a foe again.

There is no clearer example of election year hypocrisy than SB 270, which seeks to ban plastic grocery bags and impose a minimum 10-cent tax on all paper bags, with no price cap on what store owners could charge.

What came across – at first glance – as an effort to “improve our environment” has morphed into an attack on both recyclable plastic and paper bags and to further complicate things, the new proposed bags under SB 270… Read More