Let ‘em Vote … on Everything
According to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released over the weekend, voters want to
vote on taxes. The poll says they also like the idea of spending limits (80%
support), and pension reform (70% in favor.) The poll did not ask respondents
if they wanted to vote on spending limits and pension reforms, but I’ll bet
they are just itching to do so. So here’s what we do: let them vote on all of
them.
Some argue that if the voters think they can solve the
current budget situation with tax increases and long-term structural budget
problems with spending limits and pension reform they may be a step ahead of
their elected representatives in Sacramento.
Of course, just because the poll cites voters’ positions
today, campaigns on all these issues could change their minds before the voters
actually mark their ballots.
San Francisco Business Tax 2.0
San Francisco took one step forward in creating a more business-friendly city this week with the passage of the Mid-Market Payroll Tax Exclusion. The Chamber-supported incentive will help bring growing businesses to one of the city’s most blighted areas by providing a six-year payroll tax exemption for new hires at companies locating in Mid-Market and targeted areas of the Tenderloin. While the incentive will surely help revitalize a long-neglected area of the city, it is just one step in a much boarder effort that is needed to retain and attract businesses – and jobs – in San Francisco.
Re-examining the city’s business tax should be a top priority. San Francisco is the only California city that taxes payroll and the only city in America that taxes employee stock options once exercised. The 1.5 percent tax is levied on employment activity in the city for a business with a total San Francisco payroll in excess of $250,000. The tax applies to salaries, wages, bonuses, stock options, commissions and all other forms of compensation issued in exchange for services.
Critics have long cautioned that San Francisco’s tax structure is inequitable and a disincentive to job creation. There is some truth to both arguments. Under the current system, only about 10 percent of the city’s businesses pay the tax. And for some businesses, adding the tax can make or break a hiring decision, particularly in the current economic climate.
The L.A. Times Push Poll – A Trial Lawyer’s Dream
A good lawyer will tell you that how you frame the question
often determines the response. Knowing that, trial lawyers often ask a
series of leading questions before they push a witness to the conclusion they
want…and after reading the L.A. Times poll on taxes today, I think they must
have a degree in law. Fortunately, Californians don’t fall for those
types of questions on election days and that’s why they have turned every
statewide tax increase over the last decade.
To start, the headline screams, "Californians
support tax hikes to help close budget gap." Really? Reading
the article, it’s very hard to find the actual number that does — and then it
turns out only to be 52%. Objective election watchers will tell you that
number is far too low to hold up in a true election. It would need to be
much higher at this point, and that’s before you take into consideration the essential
nature of this push poll.
Why do I say it’s a push poll? Two reasons: the
sampling and the nature of the questions.
Money and Power in LA — It’s All in the Family
Cross-posted at RonKayeLA.
Dick Riordan
is there for his pal Austin Beutner to help launch of his dark horse mayoral
campaign.
"The
basic thing is jobs, jobs, jobs," says the former two-term mayor and
long-time civic leader.
Well, not
exactly. The basic thing is leadership and managing the operations of a $6 billion
government and its airport, harbor and DWP. But I get it. Friends stand up for
friends and Beutner is a good guy.
When
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig finally comes down on Frank McCourt, the only
person who comes to the defense of the Dodgers owner is Steve Soboroff who had
just stepped in as the team’s vice chairman in an effort to save his pal.
Los Angeles State Senator pleads for competitive regulatory environment
Why does a man in Compton, with an oil rig in his backyard and a refinery down the street, pay more for oil than a man in Honolulu?
A large part of that answer is California regulations that come without economic impact analysis.
Democrat State Senator Rod Wright recently posed that question and testified at the State Water Resources Control Board regarding their attempts to finalize very costly California-only stormwater permitting regulations.
“California is continually leading with our chin,” said Sen. Wright. “I would suggest that we look at these standards and see where everyone else is going. I would like to see us take this regulation and slow down. Let’s look at what Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon are doing. We can’t [compete] if our regulations are so stringent.”