Author: John Seiler

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.

Gov. Jerry Brown and the other anti-business fanatics in the Legislature and government unions just don’t get it: If you attack businesses, they leave California.

A recent departure was Pixel2Canvas, which split Lake Forest for North Las Vegas. It’s noteworthy that the company left Orange County, which has a much better business climate than the rest of California because the locals are more libertarian. But Orange County still is in Taxifornia. Reported the Orange County Register:

You coulda seen this coming. A year ago, Curt Benton moved his company, Pixel2Canvas and its 14 jobs, from Lake Forest to North Las Vegas.

The company is a fine art printer that puts digital art onto canvas, a process called gliclee.

Initially, Benton planned to keep his family in Orange County and commute. But now they have moved to Nevada too.

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.

Once again, California garners the booby prize for business climate:

For the seventh year in a row, CEOs rate Texas as the #1 state in which to do business and California as the worst. North Carolina maintained its #2 rank, while Florida rose three positions to the #3 spot.Tennessee fell one slot from last year to #4 while Georgia climbed two positions to claim the #5 rank.

Chief Executive magazine’s annual “Best & Worst States” survey takes the pulse of CEOs on business conditions around the nation. For the 2011 survey, 550 CEOs from across the country evaluated the states on a broad range of issues, including regulations, tax policies, workforce quality, education resources, quality of living and infrastructure.

“A handful of states have made business-friendly policies a priority,” says J.P. Donlon, Editor-in-Chief of Chief Executivemagazine and ChiefExecutive.net. “These forward-thinking states are the exception rather than the rule and include Utah,Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.”

CEOs voted California as the worst state in 2011, with New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Michigan rounding out the bottom five.

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.

In the hullabaloo over extending tax increases, one thing is being overlooked: As things now stand, on July 1, just 10 weeks away, California gets some pretty hefty tax cuts. You’ll have more change jingling in your pocket.

That’s when most of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s record $13 billion tax increases of 2009 expire. (The 1 percent income tax increase of that year already expired on Jan. 1.)

Overall, combining the Jan. 1 and July 1 tax increases, the average California family will have about $1,000 more to spend on food, children’s clothing, mortgage or rent payments, car payments, gas, charity, etc. Some of the tax cuts also will go into investments to create new businesses and jobs.

The following tax increases will cease as of July 1:

* 1 percent sales tax increase;
* 0.5 percent Vehicle License Fee increase (the “car tax”).

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.

Democrats are struggling to put Gov. Jerry Brown’s $12 billion tax increase proposal up for a June 2011 election of the voters of the state of California, which supposedly would help close the budget deficit of $25 billion. They need 2/3 votes in both houses of the Legislature to call a special election for the vote, but are just shy of that number. Which means they need a handful of Republican votes in each house of the Legislature to put the ballot measure to the people.

Callbuzz even said this was “undemocratic.”

But do they really need the minimum Republican support in the Legislature?

Actually, no. There’s a way around it, if Democrats dare. It involves a two-step process. The steps must be done in order.

Step 1. Do this quickly. Gather petitions to put the $12 billion tax increase on the next statewide ballot. Signature-gathering now costs about $2 million for each initiative petition.

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.

In his Jan. 3 Inaugural Address, Gov. Jerry Brown promised us a respite from the “smoke and mirrors” budgets of recent years, especially those of ex-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. So the budget he unveiled Monday, for fiscal year 2011-12 beginning on July 1, uses mirrors and smoke.

The main parts of the budget are $12.5 billion in what he called “drastic cuts” and $12 billion in new taxes to end the projected budget deficit of about $26 billion. The new taxes essentially would extend the “temporary” tax increases Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law two years ago; and which have not solved the state’s deficit problem.

Moreover, a recent study by three economists found that, over the past 37 years, nations around the globe reduced debt burdens only when spending cuts were on average 85 percent of a budget solution, with tax cuts only 15 percent. Andrew Biggs, Kevin Hassett and Matt Jensen wrote:

On average, the typical unsuccessful consolidation consisted of 53% tax increases and 47% spending cuts.

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.

The poaching of good California jobs and businesses has just begun. The new crop of GOP governors just elected across the fruited plain is looking to grab what they can from the anti-business Pyrite State. Jim Christie of Reuters reports:

“It’s a testament to California’s voters that they had the foresight to beat back the tidal wave of corporate-controlled candidates that swept much of the rest of the country,” said California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski.

But according to Somer Hollingsworth of the Nevada Development Authority, that makes California “even more fair game.”

Texas in particular has been busy scouring California for companies tired of high taxes and unpredictable regulations, and analysts see the Lone Star State as a lodestar for new GOP-led states eager to spur business.

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.

Less than a month ago, on Oct. 18, Moody’s Investor Service issued a report calculating California’s situation as “at least $12 billion in future budget gaps.”

Now, the nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report calculating a deficit of $25 billion — double the Moody’s number:

Our forecast of California’s General Fund revenues and expenditures shows that the state must address a budget problem of $25.4 billion between now and the time the Legislature enacts a 2011-12 state budget plan. The budget problem consists of a $6 billion projected deficit for 2010-11 and a $19 billion gap between projected revenues and spending in 2011–12.

Cross-posted at CalWatchdog

The Nov. 2 election was almost a total wipe-out for California Republicans. They even lost the 28th state Senate District to incumbent Jenny Oropeza, who died two weeks earlier.

At the state level, they were smashed in every race except attorney general. Republican Steve Cooley barely leads as counting goes on. Yet he should have easily beaten opponent Kamala Harris, the far-left Democratic district attorney from San Francisco who opposes the popular death penalty.

Is there any hope for this party regaining its running legs? Or should it be led to the elephant graveyard like in one of those old Tarzan movies?

I thought the L.A. Times was supposed to be "progressive" and "liberal"? Actually, they’re an establishment, elitist, government-loving paper. As shown by their editorial opposing Prop. 19 https:> , which would legalize marijuana in California.

It’s the same position taken by the Chamber of Commerce, Arnold, Meg, Jerry, Barbara, Carly, DiFi, etc. Establishment. Elitist. Government-loving.