Author: Joel Fox

I remember so clearly sitting in Jack Kemp’s congressional office in Washington with Howard Jarvis in the early 1980s, Kemp making a fist, and considering earnestly in his raspy voice, how to “get hold of the (Republican) Convention in ’88.” He was already thinking ahead to a run for the presidency, anticipating a second term by President Ronald Reagan, then a continuation of the Reagan Revolution under Jack Kemp.

And why not? The Reagan Revolution built its foundation in part on the work Kemp did in promoting economic growth through tax cuts and supply-side economics. Author of the Kemp-Roth tax cut bill in Congress with Delaware Senator William Roth; the bill was a forerunner to the Reagan tax cuts in the president’s first term. Kemp was a believer in supply-side economics, tax cuts and enterprise zones advocating economic growth as a way to raise up the poor.

Proposition 13 will become a target for those who support more revenue because of the continuing state budget deficit. Frankly, Prop 13 has been a target since it passed in 1978 and while it will continue to be a target, its steady popularity means it will be difficult or impossible to change.

Last June, I was asked to give the keynote speech at an all day UC Berkeley conference on Proposition 13, commemorating the proposition’s 30th anniversary.

All speakers that day contributed their work to a book now published by the Berkeley Public Policy Press. Titled, “After the Tax Revolt: California’s Proposition 13 Turns 30,” the book is edited by professors Jack Citrin of UC Berkeley and Isaac William Martin of UC San Diego. The book contains essays from varying perspectives on Proposition 13. Copies of the book can be attained here.

Arlen Specter’s move from the Republican to the Democratic Party seems to be about his personal political ambition. He calculated his Senatorial career would end if he tried to be re-elected as a Republican. But, the discussion it conjures up about whether the Republican Party is narrowing its acceptance of individuals with differing views reflects the debate that is sizzling in California Republican circles.

Specter noted in his announcement that 200,000 registered Republicans had recently abandoned the Pennsylvania Republican Party. As their leader, he decided to follow. In California, the Republican Party numbers are also shrinking. Only 31-percent of registered voters now consider themselves Republican.

On this site, Allan Hoffenblum noted the precipitous drop in Republican registration and that Republicans no longer claim a pure majority in registration in any legislative district. Tony Quinn went so far as to declare the Republican Party dead in California, although GOP Republican chairman Ron Nehring vehemently disagreed.

Here’s an irony from this weekend’s state Democratic convention. Many of the delegates and public employee union members demand that democratic proceedings, including voting on budgets and taxes, require a simple majority vote to pass. However, they are celebrating that the Proposition 1A budget reform endorsement at the party’s convention was rejected because it failed to achieve sixty percent vote required by party rules.

Fifty-eight percent of the delegates voted for the endorsement but that was not enough. Now party faithful who claimed victory over the vote are prepared to campaign against the two-thirds vote for the budget and taxes.

There was no mincing words at the Democratic convention this weekend on the two-thirds vote rule. New state Democratic Party Chairman John Burton said he would lead the charge to get rid of the two-thirds vote to pass the budget. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said the two-thirds vote had to go. This crusade has been top of the list for other leading Democrats as well for some time. Their wish was well received by the party faithful in attendance. Here’s how Calbuzz put it: “Big cheer when Johnny B. (Burton) vows to get rid of 2/3 vote to pass the budget.”

Earlier this month, I argued that some of the cost of Proposition 1A’s defeat could be the state directing property taxes to cover state obligations and giving the authority to local government to raise new taxes.

Now, Assembly Budget Committee Chairwoman Noreen Evans is pushing a bill, AB 1342, to allow counties to tax income and cars on the local level with voter approval. While Evans argues the move is to help local governments shore up their finances, it is just a short step for the state to see a way toward balancing a big hole in its budget by throwing off responsibility and tax battles onto local governments.

As I suggested before, defeat of Prop 1A doesn’t mean that government will melt down and suddenly arise like a phoenix healed of its ill-spending ways. There will be much maneuvering to raise revenue through permanent fees and new taxing authority.

You can read more about the Evans’ bill, which has already passed its first committee, in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat article here.

I guess the kindest way to put this is that we have a tone-deaf legislature. Out of town for a few days, I came back to read that the Assembly leaders were attempting to justify pay raises for assembly staff while the state deficit is growing. On top of that, other legislators were proposing targeted fee and tax increases at a time that the tax question is weighing down attempts at budgetary reform.

Now Speaker Karen Bass and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines have cancelled the pay raises. Bass said the pay raises caused a distraction from the discussion about the May ballot measures. No kidding. But that doesn’t change the fact that legislators somehow lose touch with the public they represent.

Bass and Villines argued at first that many of the staffers who received increases have not seen a pay raise in a number of years. With the budget problems of the last couple of years, that is appropriate. Many taxpayers haven’t seen a pay raise, either. On top of that they have been asked to pay more in taxes to keep the government solvent. While the pay raises are a small part of the overall budget, the symbolism was of monstrous proportions.

The Bay Area Council’s Jim Wunderman kicked off a whirlwind of activity and interest around the possibility of calling a California Constitutional Convention with an op-ed piece he published in the San Francisco Chronicle last August. Since then he has held a summit on the idea in Sacramento and has traveled around the state generating interest for the idea of a Constitutional Convention.

Fox and Hounds Daily caught up to Jim recently to ask him what progress he sees in this quest eight months later.

Q. Your idea for calling a constitutional convention garnered a lot of attention at first. Has that interest grown since August?

A. The interest in holding a constitutional convention has grown substantially since the Chronicle first printed our op-ed piece calling for it in August. The longer the budget debacle played on, the more groups, individuals and the media became interested, many excited. Over the months we’ve had the chance to make quite a few presentations and many of those groups have signed on or are likely to do so.. We’re by no means alone in this, we get lots of pats on the backs from the strangest places.

The Tea Parties went off around California and the nation Wednesday, gaining attention for those concerned about tax increases and federal bailouts. They were certainly a success by the measure that they displayed an anger simmering amongst many voters throughout the country. But, controversy was stoked by the way some media outlets portrayed the events as a front for Republican activism.

A CNN reporter claimed the event was “anti-government” and “anti-CNN” because the tea parties were so heavily promoted by Fox News. The Los Angeles Times coverage of the TEA Parties focused on the charge that it was a Republican inspired event. Meanwhile, Fox News broadcaster Neil Cavuto, covering the Sacramento event, stated over and over that there was no political party agenda to the rallies and that Republican as well as Democratic officials were criticized for supporting big spending and higher taxes.

Judging by some polling I’ve seen, Democrats are also concerned about tax increases and the consequences of the federal bailout. However, I expect the debate over the media coverage may overshadow the rallies in some quarters.

Tax Day hits this year with a heavy punch. Because of a plunging economy, far-reaching federal government economic programs and hot discussions about state ballot propositions, taxes are foremost on the people’s mind.

With TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party rallies scheduled around the state and across the nation, the heat has been turned up another notch. What will the tax day events be like? We expect to have reports on a couple of TEA Party events in Fox and Hounds tomorrow.

And, you can bet state accountants are eagerly anticipating those last minute checks postmarked today, hoping to stem the tide of dropping revenue that have been projected by the Finance Department and the State Controller.