It’s no secret I’ve been highly critical of the Franchise Tax Board’s decision to assess five years and more than a hundred million dollars in retroactive taxes against California small businesses and start-up investors.

Thankfully this wrong was finally righted today with the Governor’s signature of Assembly Bill 1412.

AB 1412 is the product of rare bipartisan legislative cooperation. It will ensure that taxpayers who followed the law in good faith will not be taxed retroactively for doing so.

I commend all involved for their hard work in bringing about a fair and reasonable outcome for California taxpayers.

If you’d like to learn more about this issue, my letters urging action are available online: 2/5/13, 4/26/13,… Read More

As an elected official and taxpayer advocate, I cannot remain silent while state tax officials punish California taxpayers who in good faith followed our laws.

That’s why I’m urging the Franchise Tax Board to reverse a controversial staff decision seeking millions in retroactive taxes from California entrepreneurs and small businesses.

In my letter to the three members of the Franchise Tax Board, I call FTB’s December 2012 staff action “unwarranted and unfair to taxpayers.”

I explain that the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision in Cutler v. Franchise Tax Board does not require FTB to take this action. I warn that it “sends entirely the wrong message to investors, entrepreneurs and job creators doing business in our state.”

A growing bi-partisan chorus of California legislators, newspapers and… Read More