Eight years ago, I served as Chairman of the California Commission on Tax Policy in a New Economy. We held 17 hearings around the state and listened to options for revising the California tax system.

The events drew people from all socio-economic backgrounds and analyzed 12 tax policy proposals using the following principles: fairness and perception; simplicity; and efficiency and balance. The commission made 12 recommendations to fix our tax structure, including proposals to:

We issued our final report in December 2003, one month after Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced Governor Gray Davis. The new administration ignored our recommendations.

The other day, I sent a letter to Governor Jerry Brown which explained my role in the commission and what we learned. I urged the Governor to review the report and implement our recommendations to restructure the state tax system and bring solvency to state government. You can read the complete report here.