Given California’s chronic problems, it’s hard to imagine anyone sees our state as a model—but it’s clear the Obama administration does. And to make matters worse, President Obama is now using schemes from California’s playbook in his bid to impose our failures on the rest of the nation. Much like Sacramento, Washington is mired in [...]
Better late than never, California lawmakers seem to be waking up to the reality that the illegal “Fire Prevention Fee” they enacted nearly two years ago is a complete fiasco. Even so, they are refusing to repeal it. Instead they are scheming up ways to replace the tax with yet another tax that’s even bigger [...]
Last year California voters approved two tax increases aimed at bringing billions more dollars into state coffers. But that hasn’t stopped revenue-hungry lawmakers in the Legislature from seeking further tax hikes. It’s almost as if they think we can tax ourselves into prosperity. A recent example of this type of confused thinking is the oil [...]
If you want to grow government these days, it seems the fashionable thing to do is invent new taxes. Two years ago, legislators conjured up an illegal fire “fee.” Last year, they invented a confusing new lumber tax. Two voter-approved multi-billion dollar tax hikes later, and the politicians still want more of your money. This [...]
It’s a new year, and with it comes higher taxes and more government spending. In 2013, overtaxed Californians will send more of their hard-earned dollars to Sacramento than ever before, growing total state spending to a record $225 billion. Higher taxes shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, the majority of Californians voted for Proposition 30 [...]
A fire tax bill is coming soon to a mailbox near you. It’s not fair; it’s not constitutional, but thanks to Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature, the bills are coming all the same. On August 13, the State of California began mailing the first of more than 825,000 “Fire Prevention Fee” bills to Californians [...]
If you fall for an opponent’s head fake in sports, you risk losing the game. The stakes are much higher for taxpayers. If they fall for the Governor’s head fake this November, the price tag could be as high as $50 billion dollars by 2019. Don’t be fooled. The Governor and Legislature have for months [...]
April 17 was the deadline of another tax filing season, but it was just the start of the Democrats’ 2012 tax initiative season. In fact, in just a month, voters must take a stand against and defeat the first round of this year’s tax hike measures: Proposition 29. Prop. 29, like many other tax increases [...]
There’s a very important day this week—a day even more significant than when your taxes are due. In the State of California, Tax Freedom Day finally arrives on April 20. Calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day is the day on which the average Californian has finished earning enough money to pay all [...]
There’s an old adage that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. When it comes to politics, it nearly always is. Say for instance a politician told you he could lower the cost of sending your kids to college by 2/3rds. You’d probably respond, “Great. What’s the catch?” Your caution would [...]
