The California Tax Commission is coming close to finalizing a package of so-called reforms to the way Californians pay for their government, and to my amazement, a center-piece of the current likely proposal is what is called a Business Net Receipts Tax (BNRT), which is similar to a value added tax. As proposed, it would apply to all businesses in California, expanding the scope of what is currently taxed in the state from just goods now to services.

This particular element of the Commission’s proposal is clearly something that should be excised. It is criticized from the left this morning in a thoughtful piece from Jean Ross of the big-government supporting California Budget Project over at CalBuzz, and right here on the FlashReport conservative Michelle Steel, one of the two Republicans on the State Board of Equalization, takes the BNRT proposal to task in a piece broadly concerned with the pending report of the commission. Joel Fox also pointed out the concerns of the BNRT to… Read More

The California Tax Commission is coming close to finalizing a package of so-called reforms to the way Californians pay for their government, and to my amazement, a center-piece of the current likely proposal is what is called a Business Net Receipts Tax (BNRT), which is similar to a value added tax. As proposed, it would apply to all businesses in California, expanding the scope of what is currently taxed in the state from just goods now to services.

This particular element of the Commission’s proposal is clearly something that should be excised. It is criticized from the left this morning in a thoughtful piece from Jean Ross of the big-government supporting California Budget Project over at CalBuzz, and right here on the FlashReport conservative Michelle Steel, one of the two Republicans on the State Board of Equalization, takes the BNRT proposal to task in a piece broadly concerned with the pending report of the commission. Joel Fox also pointed out the concerns of the BNRT to… Read More

John Diaz the Chronicle’s editorial page editor has written an interesting and thoughtful column about the dysfunction in the Legislature. He accurately points out that repealing term limits, and going to majority votes for taxes will not solve anything unless other changes take place. If Legislators want to gain more public approval for their actions it will not come by giving them more power. Diaz suggests a number of common sense improvements: no ghost voting, no vote changing, no vote add-ons, let the record of votes stand; no expunging records so that actions disappear; no fundraisers during deadline weeks if for no other reason it is distracting; and not tolerating absent legislators from votes. His suggestions are good ones. But I have more. Bills should be in print for 72 hours before they are voted on. The worst part of legislative mindset is that the end justifies the means. If a legislator has a bill that will save the world or end the common cold, or mandate kindness it still does not justify waiving all the … Read More

Some tidbits, moments of brilliance and just plain funfrom the past seven days…

Politics 101 of the Week… He will forever be known as Hot Mic Duvall, but whether the resigned California assemblyman was telling tall tales of exploit out of turn, or being the male Anaïs Nin of the legislature, the incident did result in more than a few snickers from several corners. "Overheard" on Facebook from an unknown original source is this profound political lesson:

"Always know when the microphone is on. Oh … and don’t have affairs and stuff like that." Sports 101 of the Week (or, a lesson on the ones you don’t take home to mom)… My message to a San Diego Chargers defender regarding his recent alleged domestic flap with a reality TV "star":

"Hey Shawne! First clue this would mean… Read More

Around 6am this morning, the California legislature adjourned from its regular session. Needless to say, the Democrats who control the majority in both legislative chambers, near as I can tell, produced nothing helpful in their final legislative push. With the state’s economy in the doldrums, so many opportunities to pass legislation to stimulate the economic through tax or regulatory relief were rejected (Republicans authored these ideas, to have them dismissed by the liberal ideologues who see taxing and regulating the people they represent as some sort of dogmatic quest). On the contrary — we saw notable bills such as ones to ease incarceration for prisoners, and more regulations on the energy sector that will result in higher consumer costs. Oh yes, and the water crisis remains a crisis as the Sierra Club completely trumped common sense, with the Democrats amazingly producing a water bill that includes no new water storage… (Kind of like saying you fixed the leak on a boat by replacing the canopy.)

We’ll have more coverage on the end of the session, and our team is already working on our annual… Read More

Around 6am this morning, the California legislature adjourned from its regular session. Needless to say, the Democrats who control the majority in both legislative chambers, near as I can tell, produced nothing helpful in their final legislative push. With the state’s economy in the doldrums, so many opportunities to pass legislation to stimulate the economic through tax or regulatory relief were rejected (Republicans authored these ideas, to have them dismissed by the liberal ideologues who see taxing and regulating the people they represent as some sort of dogmatic quest). On the contrary — we saw notable bills such as ones to ease incarceration for prisoners, and more regulations on the energy sector that will result in higher consumer costs. Oh yes, and the water crisis remains a crisis as the Sierra Club completely trumped common sense, with the Democrats amazingly producing a water bill that includes no new water storage… (Kind of like saying you fixed the leak on a boat by replacing the canopy.)

We’ll have more coverage on the end of the session, and our team is already working on our annual… Read More

After consultation with many fellow supporters of my proposed change in the California Republican Party Bylaws, I made the very difficult decision just a few minutes ago to withdraw the change.

To make a long story short, while I am confident that the votes were there to pass the change at the convention, the matter was becoming extremely divisive due to a lot of misinformation being spread about the proposal, and its effects.

The reality is that as long as someone can register Decline To State and elect to vote in either major party’s primary, we will continue to see the percentage of DTS voters steadily increase at the expense of party registration. Both political parties are going to eventually have to confront this issue head on.

My sincere appreciate to the hundreds of CRP Members who had indicated their support, and just because we will not be pursuing this important change this month does not believe we will now ignore the deteriorating effect of the status quo on our party registration.

I will close by saying that a political party cannot long endure if it focuses only on winning elections without thought to being prepared to do so… Read More

President’s speech: Many of you probably watched the President’s Wednesday night address to a joint session of Congress on health care. Such addresses to a joint session are usually done for the State of the Union or a national military emergency (9/11). It is quite rare to use this for a single policy address.

I was frankly surprised at what went on. This was really more like a lecture than a speech. Rather than accept the legitimate concerns of those (including this writer) who disagree with the president’s health care plan and discuss potential for compromise, Mr. Obama chided and taunted his opposition. You can’t say "we will call you out" in reference to people who will say things with which the President disagrees, and then expect to work with and be trusted by those same people. The President’s tone was haughty and condescending. As a result, the atmosphere is the room was extremely acrimonious. Maybe this mood didn’t come across on TV, but you could cut the air with a knife in that room. That is why there were more outbursts than usual.

The President sets the tone, and the tone was one of… Read More