Treasurer Ma’s Rebuke of State Tax Authority Reawakens Idea of “Elected” Tax Officials
California Treasurer Fiona Ma’s appeal to Governor Newsom to intervene with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to prevent the pursuit of third-party small business sellers for back taxes is a just cause. But the fact that she has to appeal to the executive for relief highlights a concern raised two years […]
The California Rule Is the California Exception
If we can’t get rid of the California Rule, can we at least ditch the name? The California Rule is the misleading moniker we’ve given to our state’s most troublesome legal precedent: that public employees are entitled to whatever pension benefits were in place when they started work. Pension benefits in California are so monumental […]
Legislature Again Pursues Rent Control
It seems that California legislators can’t help themselves. After a year that saw every one of their rent-restricting efforts in the Legislature fail ignition – and after an election in which voters decisively rejected a statewide ballot measure to repeal a law protecting landlords – in Sacramento lawmakers are as determined as ever to put […]
California’s Self-Created Future Energy Crisis
In much of the country a powerful energy boom is providing a serious stimulus to economic growth. But in California, where fossil fuels are considered about as toxic as tobacco, we are lurching toward an anticipated energy shortage that will further exacerbate the state’s already deep geographic and class divisions. California, in a typical feat […]