What Voters Understand: Going after Business is First Step in Dismantling Prop 13
There was another hearing on Proposition 13, the iconic property tax cutting measure, at the legislature yesterday. San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano wants to clarify change of ownership rules when business property changes hands and raise more tax revenue from businesses. But, what the public hears behind all this rhetoric is the chipping away of […]
The Five Worst Arguments in the Tax Initiative Battle
There’s violence, and then there’s the violence being done to reason during the fight over the three tax-hiking ballot initiatives. At this rate, the safest political bet in California is that all logic will be dead well before November. Which is why it’s so hard to pick out the worst arguments being made in the […]
The Exploding Disability Rolls in California
Considerable attention has been given over the past few years in California to the increase in Unemployment Insurance (UI) recipients, and the corresponding insolvency of the UI fund. In the December 2011 survey week, the number of UI recipients stood at 536,442, up very slightly from the previous month and down from 599,221 in December […]
Number of California Minor Party Candidates Slumps to Lowest Level Since 1966
On March 9, filing for the California primary closed (except in a few districts in which the incumbent is not running for re-election). It appears that there are only fifteen minor party candidates running for U.S. House of Representatives and state legislature. This is the lowest number of California minor party candidates for those offices […]