“Tax Land Wealth” Theory Ignores Ability to Pay
A recent Los Angeles Times op-ed by three professors at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs suggests the way to raise revenue to deal with homelessness is to tax land because “housing scarcity delivers unearned wealth to people who own housing.” This tired argument of taxing land wealth ignores two important principles: ability to pay and […]
The California taxpayer’s case for independence
On Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office cleared the California Freedom Coalition’s initiative, “California Autonomy from Federal Government,” for circulation. If passed, it would direct the Governor, in coordination with our congressional delegation, to negotiate more autonomy for California, possibly up to the point of California becoming an independent country. Why should California want […]
Cap-and-trade deal also cut taxes
As part of a comprehensive, bipartisan solution implementing the state’s ambitious climate change goals, the legislation that extended the cap-and-trade program also included several useful tax reductions. These tax cuts will help mitigate cost increases on rural Californians and partially offset some costs for California manufacturers and energy producers. Sales tax exemption Manufacturers gained a […]
The Cities Creating The Most High-Wage Jobs
As the country moves toward full employment, at least as economists define it, the quality of jobs has replaced joblessness as the primary concern. With wages still stagnant, rising an anemic 2.5% in the year to May, the biggest challenge for most parts of the U.S. is not getting more people into the workforce but […]