Did High Speed Rail De-rail the Tobacco Tax?
The final vote determining whether the tobacco tax, Proposition 29, passed or failed could be weeks away, but pundits are questioning what closed the numbers from two-thirds support in early polls to a near 50-50 finish. While some say it was the advertizing blitz that did the measure in, others, like the Los Angeles Times […]
Does Death Penalty Repeal Have a Prop 29 Problem?
Prop 29, the cigarette-tax-for-cancer-research initiative, had trouble attracting some natural supporters (those who support cigarette taxes) because it locked up the money it raised outside the general fund, giving money to cancer research when more important state programs are cash-starved. Don’t look now, but there’s a November ballot initiative that’s vulnerable in a similar way: […]
The Law of Unintended Consequences: More Lawsuits
Every once in a while, California’s voters think they are doing the right thing, but the results do not turn out to be what was intended. This will be the case if they pass the food labeling ballot initiative. Supporters of this initiative recently submitted enough signatures to place it on the ballot this fall. […]
Another Rank Survey
Another one of those business-friendly rankings came out last week, and once again, Los Angeles and California fared poorly. Well, “poorly” may be a charitable description. In a national survey, small-business owners in Los Angeles gave their city an F grade in five of the 12 questions asked. Not surprisingly, Los Angeles got F’s for […]
Illegal Tax Pays for New State Employees
Crossposted on CalWatchdog California lawmakers apparently didn’t get the message voters sent on Tuesday night. Earlier today, the Sen. Budget Committee approved Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to spend another $6.4 million collecting the State Responsibility Area fire tax, passed in 2011. Referred to by Democrats as a “rural fire fee,” the new tax imposes a […]
Genocide, Anybody?
“We share the same biology Regardless of ideology What might save us, me, and you Is if the Russians love their children too.” –“Russians,” a song about the ‘mutually assured destruction’ doctrine from the Cold War nuclear arms race by Sting, The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985). Are we becoming increasingly tolerant of, or […]