“Sin” Taxes on the Ballot This Fall
Two measures have qualified for the November ballot that ask California voters to increase so-called “sin” taxes. One measure, the Healthcare, Research, and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act, will add an additional $2.00 per pack to cigarettes sold in the state. Currently, the tax is $0.87 per pack, which ranks lower than the cigarette tax in 33 […]
The Only Convention That Makes Any Sense
Politics has gone mad here in mid-summer. The political conventions make no sense. The Republicans, the folks who used to defend the flag, are running down the country. Their nominee could taint the party for a generation or more. The Democrats are suddenly the conservative party, defending the status quo. Both parties have turned against […]
In CA, Political Power Resides where Jobs are Strong
The California Business Roundtable’s monthly report on the state’s employment situation feels like a Jackson Pollock painting with bright colors here, dark spots there while containing hints to why the state’s political power resides where it does. The Roundtable’s California Center for Jobs and the Economy reports the state’s unemployment rate is 5.4% in June, an […]
We Need A Prop 13-Style Ballot Initiative For Gasoline And Diesel Taxes
Attorney General Kamala Harris has reportedly opened an investigation of oil refiners over gasoline prices. But if she truly wants to know why gasoline and diesel cost so much in California, she’ll be grilling the wrong suspects. She should instead investigate the general assembly. Politicians love to conduct oil industry inquisitions. They know that to […]
The U.S. Cities Creating The Most White-Collar Jobs, 2016
The information sector may have glamour and manufacturing, nostalgia appeal, but the real action in high-wage job growth in the United States is in the vast realm of professional and business services. This is not only the largest high-wage part of the economy, employing just under 20 million people at an average salary of $30 an […]
Business Strategy on Prop 55
Business organizations are beginning to line up against Proposition 55, the income tax extension, but is it a matter of showing the flag or engaging in full force? Long term strategy on business related tax issues is part of business’s calculation. No question business is opposing the effort to extend for 12 years what was […]
Prop 53 Gives Taxpayers Less Say, Not More
One of the myths of Proposition 53 – the Cortopassi ballot measure – is that it somehow would give taxpayers more control over the funding of major infrastructure projects. In truth, Proposition 53 gives local taxpayers and residents less ability to decide what gets built in their communities. One of the little-known details of Proposition […]
Get Back, Loretta
Let me start with an admission of error. I recently chastised Rep. Loretta Sanchez in this space for going to Spain earlier in the summer, instead of campaigning for the U.S. Senate. I argued that she needed to make a real full-time campaign, for her own good. I was wrong to say that. Sanchez on […]
The Future of Latino Politics
The sad decline in race relations has focused, almost exclusively, on the age-old, and sadly growing, chasm between black and white. Yet this divide may prove far less important, particularly in this election, than the direction of the Latino community. This may be the first election where Latinos, now the nation’s largest minority group, may […]