Déjà Vu in the Special Session: Taxes vs. Reforms
Watching the maneuvering to pass a transportation revenue package in the special session, I can’t help but think of the observation by that great philosopher Yogi Berra who said: “It’s déjà vu all over again.” The legislative scrum over a legislative roads fix is similar to the struggle to find common ground before Proposition 30 […]
Effort to Raise Smoking Age Hurts Minority Communities
Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, recently reintroduced legislation California Senate Bill 27 (SBX2-7) during the second extraordinary session that will again aim to raise the minimum smoking age from 18 to 21 and limit access to tobacco products. The first attempt at this bill failed to make it out of a key policy committee earlier in […]
Millionaire Monopoly Asks The Legislature For A Raise … Again
It’s nice to have a state-sanctioned monopoly. It’s even nicer to have a monopoly in an important, yet obscure profession, like the San Francisco Bay’s 60 bar pilots do. In 2014, the San Francisco Bar Pilots, who guide ships in and out of the Bay, collected their highest revenues ever in their 150+ year history, […]
Tax Increase Plans Force Business to Look Elsewhere
California is considering imposing the most ruthless set of taxes ever placed on businesses in the state’s history – a tsunami of levies that may trigger the worst raid on private-sector finances ever organized by the state’s politicians. One result will be an increasing number of businesses leaving California for greener domestic or international pastures. […]