Prop 30 Ballot Scheme: Yes, It Was Sleazy

Friday afternoon, the Court of Appeals issued a ruling confirming what everyone — liberals, conservatives, political pundits and the media — knew: That Governor Brown and the California Legislature manipulated the ballot process which gave Proposition 30 preferential treatment in the November election. In its ruling, the Court held that the legislation which put Proposition […]

What Taxpayers Should Know About Brown’s Budget

We’ve always thought it a bit odd how every January, when the Governor releases the proposed state budget for the following fiscal year, there is barely a drop of ink used by the main stream media about the impact to citizen taxpayers. Sure, as a spending document, the interests that receive government largesse — welfare, […]

Happy Talk

According to several media accounts in the days since the election, California has turned a corner and will soon resume its rightful place as the best place in America — nay, the world — to live, raise a family and start a business. It’s Nirvana all over again. Perhaps what started all this happy talk […]

The Manipulative Political Ads Play On

California government employee unions spent nearly $100 million in the lead up to the November election to convince voters to approve new taxes and reject a measure that would have barred unions and corporations form using legal bribery — campaign contributions — to influence state lawmakers. Now, two of these unions — one representing firefighters […]

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Two-Thirds Requirement

The California Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to significant aspects of Proposition 13, prosecuted by former UCLA Chancellor Charles Young. Earlier this year, the 2nd District Court of Appeal agreed with attorneys representing the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that Young’s suit challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 13 lacks merit. Since his retirement, […]

Major Business Fund Tax Increase Campaign

A few weeks ago the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association reported that in addition to government employee unions that have provided millions of dollars to the Yes on Proposition 30 campaign, a number of prominent businesses are also contributing big bucks to the effort to raise your taxes. Companies like Blue Shield, Aera Energy, America Beverage […]

CA Moving toward Number 1 in Taxes

We have just moved up from 5th to 4th in a ranking of all 50 states by the Washington, DC–based Tax Foundation but, for average folks, this is not good news. California leads 46 other states in per capita tax burden, a dubious honor that helps to explain the state’s dismal economy. California has the […]

Alarming Compensation Trends for State Workers

At an event last night hosted by the San Joaquin Taxpayers Association in Stockton – the largest municipality to declare bankruptcy in the United States due to overly generous government employee compensation – the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation and the Center for Government Analysis jointly released a new study that reveals alarming compensation trends for […]

HJTA Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Fire Tax

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed a class action lawsuit to provide relief to nearly one million California property owners who received bills from the State for a new “fire prevention fee” which the lawsuit claims is illegal. The class action complaint, filed today in Superior Court in Sacramento, seeks to overturn the fire fee, […]

Getting Burned by Dancing with the Devil

In a state Capitol hearing room, the taxpayer advocate waited patiently for the 37 special interest pleaders to finish speaking in favor of yet another tax increase — a last minute measure that had been jammed through in the final hours of session. He reflected on the similarity of each robotic presentation, how approval of […]