On Tax Day, Taxpayer Advocates and their Adversaries are Thinking Ahead
On Tax Day 2014, California is creeping toward a point that the issue of taxation may once again be selected as the main concern for the state’s voters. That might seem an irrational statement when you consider that in the most recent Public Policy Institute poll, taxes as a concern were ranked sixth behind, in […]
Will California Revive and Expand Redevelopment?
Before its demise in 2011, California’s redevelopment system did little to create jobs or improve education. It did succeed, however, in turning California into one of the worst states in the nation for eminent domain abuse, while severely undermining the state’s fiscal stability. A new initiative, the “California Jobs and Education Development Initiative,” or JEDI, […]
A Conservative’s View: Republican Troubles
On Friday I received a big proud email from a guy named Pete Peterson, a Republican running for California Secretary of State. He announced the Field Poll showed him far ahead of the Democrats in this race. He was at 30%.On Saturday the Field Poll came out on the State Controller race. The controversial Fresno […]
Don’t Make Big-City Mayors Regional Rulers
Given the quality of leadership in Washington, it’s not surprising that many pundits are shifting focus to locally based solutions to pressing problems. This increasingly includes many progressives, who historically have embraced an ever-more expansive federal government. In many ways, this constitutes an extraordinarily positive development. Political decentralization is built into the very framework of […]