Rumored Budget Plan Would Raise Local Sales Tax by Majority Vote
A rumor is floating in Sacramento about a budget solution re-doing part of the “triple flip” budget compromise of a few years ago. That compromise increased state sales tax, decreased local sales tax by an equal amount and backfilled the local sales tax loss by directing more property tax to the locals/schools.
This resulted in higher general fund money going to schools. The plan suggests the property tax would be taken back and funneled to the schools through the state meaning a smaller state obligation to the schools and therefore more money stays in the state general fund. At the same time, the local sales tax reduction would be eliminated essentially raising sales tax on the local level. This would be accomplished with a majority vote of the legislature.
CA Prof Nailed Palin VP Pick 10 Months Ago
John Pitney, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College spoke to the annual VICA (Valley Industry and Commerce Association) meeting in Studio City last October on the coming presidential race and offered a surprise suggestion for a Republican Vice-Presidential candidate: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Many of the attendees at the conference asked: Who? Many Americans this morning are probably asking the same question as John McCain announced he indeed selected Gov. Palin as his running mate.
Pitney said he looked to Palin at the time because “all the Republican presidential candidates were white males of a certain age and practical politics indicates you should balance the ticket.” Pitney said the issue of corruption in Washington D.C,. was high and Palin is seen as a reformer. “If you are looking for someone who is an outsider, you can’t get much farther than Alaska.”
Perata’s refusal to compromise devolves to immaturity
What’s Don Perata’s answer for Republican opposition to a temporary sales tax increase – just make the tax increase permanent!
Sacramento’s budget gridlock still seemingly has no end in sight, with the budget now 60 days overdue. The compromise proposal of a temporary sales tax that Governor Schwarzenegger put forth last week has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle, but at the very least has provided a starting point for some type of compromise between the tax-and-spend philosophy of the Democrats and the Republicans’ concern that tax increases would only further harm California’s struggling economy.
I find it unlikely, however, that ‘compromise’ is a part of Perata’s vocabulary. His attempt to force permanence upon the Governor’s proposed tax increase shows about as much maturity as Karen Bass shoving Nicole Parra into a closet across the street.
Once in a Lifetime
I don’t even know how to begin to explain the experience of being at the Mile High Stadium today. I guess you could say that is exactly how I felt – at least a mile high.
It wasn’t easy to get there – not for the Obama campaign nor for any of the 80,000 or so people who braved the whole of humanity to be there for this once in a lifetime shot at history. But all in all the stadium held up well. There were some moments where the stadium food vendors thought they were going to run out and some touchy times over getting back to your seats if you left at inopportune times, but overall, the joy of the experience was felt by all.
And, while you may think that sitting in a stadium for 8 hours in the hot sun would be a bad experience, it felt like no time had passed at all. Everyone was jockeying for good seats and getting to know their seatmates. Cell phones, cameraphones and blackberries were so heavily used that we all started to notice lags in the network and many of us powered down to save our juice. I won’t be surprised at all if there were record numbers of texts, calls and emails.
Put a Lid on Construction Caps
Santa Monica is crowded. Walking on the jammed sidewalks is like a modern-day joust. Traffic is impossible, and lucking into an on-street parking spot is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
So it is understandable that residents are frustrated and some want to slam a lid on commercial growth. They’ve managed to get a measure on the ballot this fall that would cap construction of most commercial space to a piddling 75,000 square feet a year.
The frustration is understandable, but the proposal is misguided.
Like many measures designed to fix one problem, it may well end up creating others. And it may not even fix the crowding issue.
McCain Closing the Gap in California
What’s up with John McCain closing in on Barack Obama in the recent Public Policy Institute of California poll? Most pundits have written off this state for McCain saying Obama will not have to campaign here or spend money here. It was in the bag.
But when a 24-point Obama lead in some early polls falls to only a 9-point lead in the most recent PPIC poll, it has to give both sides pause.
The PPIC poll was conducted before Senator Joe Biden was added to the Democratic ticket and before Obama’s speech at the Democratic Convention.
Mark Baldassare, the PPIC president and director of the poll says his survey found Independent voters moving toward McCain. “Independents are still finding out about the candidates. They weren’t that involved in the primary elections for the most part and are just getting to know the candidates,” Baldassare said.