New Obstacles Pop Up for Brown’s Tax Increase Plan
It was never going to be easy for Governor Jerry Brown to
get the legislative votes to get his tax proposals on the ballot, never mind
have them passed by the voters. But, new circumstances make the effort more
difficult: Increased revenue is flowing into California’s treasury and the
reported coming "occupation" of the Capitol by those who demand more tax
revenue.
The revenue surge of over $2.5 billion dollars brings with
it the question of how deep the deficit really is. Will the revenue surge
continue? Will tax increases undercut the economic growth that is behind the
surge? Legislators and voters considering the answers to these questions may
not be so eager to support new taxes.
On Friday, reporter and Fox and Hounds blogger Daniel
Weintraub co-authored
an article with Michael Gardner on HealthyCal.org about the revenue
increase. While acknowledging that there was no certainty that the revenue
surge will continue, the authors pointed to hopeful signs that the economy is
rebounding.
In the Redistricting Debate, Just the Facts, Please!
I’m hoping everyone is enjoying reading long-time Republican Tony Quinn and I battle it out here on Fox & Hounds and elsewhere on the relatively mundane subject of redistricting. In his last post, Mr. Quinn’s resorted to a personal attack on my character. But I’m not going there, and will keep this simple and factual.
There is an open legal question under Propositions 11 and 20 about how to achieve population equality. It is nothing new.
This issue has been raised as one that would need resolution throughout the Commission process. It was raised during the training for the three auditors who screened applicants. It was raised during the training for the first eight commissioners. And it was raised during training for the full commission.
There were new ambiguities in the law created by Propositions 11 and 20. First, they broadened other competing criteria. Second, they added the phrase “allowable by law” to the equal population standard. It is reasonable to read that as allowing more flexibility to maintain other criteria like minimizing city and county splits. It is reasonable to believe that was not the intent. It is certainly a reasonable discussion for the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
Brown Tax Vote Critics need a Reality Check
It is hardly surprising that Gov. Jerry Brown is finding
rough going in herding all the cats required to make a real budget deal
happen-one that faces up to the realities and includes a bit of pain for
everyone. Yes, he has done an admirable
PR job with the symbols-canceling the cell phones, taking back the state cars
and putting a lid on travel. The cuts
achieved in health, welfare and other services have also gone through with
relatively little resistance. But
finding something that will attract enough Republican votes for a tax measure without
throwing Democrats and their constituencies overboard has proven to be a lot
more elusive than he may have thought.
There is a notion being promulgated by some pundit types
that Jerry Brown’s problem is that he never should have promised not to raise
taxes without a vote of the people.
Those critics need to think about the reality of the campaign, the
reality of the legislative process and the reality of where we are as a
California state of mind.
The Walter Mondale strategy of promising to raise taxes
didn’t work in 1984, and it wouldn’t have worked in 2010. Rather than evade the tax question or ask for
approval in a vacuum, Brown promised to give voters the chance to say YES or
NO-not a profile in courage, but a sensible, responsible way to address the
issue in a toxic campaign environment.
The Best Cities for Jobs 2011
Co-authored by Michael Shires. Cross-posted at NewGeography.
These may be far from the best of times, but they are no longer the worst. Last year’s annual “Best Cities for Jobs” list was by far the most dismal since we began compiling our rankings almost five years ago. Between 2009 and 2010, only 13 of 397 metropolitan areas experienced any growth at all. For this year’s list, which measured job growth in the period between January 2010 and January 2011, most of the best-performing areas experienced actual employment increases — even if they were modest.
For Forbes’ list of the best cities for jobs, we ranked all 398 current metropolitan statistical areas, based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported from November 1999 to January 2011. Rankings are based on recent growth trends, mid-term growth and long-term growth and momentum. We also broke down rankings by size — small, medium and large — since regional economies differ markedly due to their scale.
Reflecting the importance of the war effort in stimulating local economies, command of this year’s best place for jobs was handed to the Army from the Marines. Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas, shot up to No. 1 from No. 4, while Jacksonville, N.C., last year’s first-place winner and home to Camp Lejeune, dropped to 19th place.