California’s promise of opportunity for everyone has been all but eradicated by gross political mismanagement, political corruption, and watered down representation. It’s time to drain the swamp in California politics.

While California voters overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, when polled, Californians show strong signs of wanting political reform in the Golden State.

They may get their wish if John Cox has anything to say.

Cox, who is running for Governor, and is the author of the… Read More

Even with “the most progressive tax system in the United states,” California Gov. Jerry Brown is facing huge deficits, and cannot balance the state budget. The huge $180billion state budget proposal for 2017-18, may be another record budget but for millions of Californians, it’s still record stagnation and less income.

Brown has presented yet another budget fairytale that will have $5.8 Billion in deficits over the next three years – even with the recently passed ballot tax of $10 Billion in new tax revenue. And the budget does little or nothing to pay down more than $240 billion in state debt.

Why? Because personal income tax, corporate, and sales tax projections are… Read More

If there is any doubt that this Democrat-controlled Legislature is on a spending rampage, take a look at the legislation below currently blowing through the Assembly and Senate.

All Democrat-authored bills

AB 1770 (Asm. Luis Alejo) makes non-citizens who are in the U.S. legally eligible for the California Food Assistance Program. AB 1770 is on suspense.

AB 1809 (Asm. Patty Lopez) eliminates the consideration of an individual’s assets as a condition of eligibility for CalWORKS. AB 1809 is currently being held in a committee.

SB 1010 (Sen. Ed Hernández) requires health plans and insurers to report information about prescription drug pricing to the State. Requires Department of Managed Health Care and Department of Insurance DOI to compile a report regarding the overall impact of drug costs on health care pricing.

AB 492 (Asm Lorena Gonzalez) provides an additional $50 per month to CalWORKS recipients for diapers for children under 2 years old.

SB 1465 (Sen. Pres. Kevin De León) allows the Governor to sign agreements making Los Angeles the host of the 2024 Olympic Games, including an agreement for joint liability.… Read More

Today during the 2015 Cal Tax Annual Members meeting, I called for a meaningful public discourse on tax reform ideas that make life easier for taxpayers. Specifically, I suggested replacing California’s income tax with a sales tax on services.

As you may know, Senate Bill 8 (Hertzberg) seeks to extend California’s sales tax to services. As currently written, the bill amounts to nothing more than a massive tax increase that would just make California less competitive while adding thousands of state auditors and tax collectors to state payrolls.

Reform, by its definition, should not include growing government or making taxes more complicated.

Any shift to a broader reliance on sales tax must be combined with real tax reform that removes barriers to doing business in our state. That’s why I proposed eliminating California’s personal and corporate income tax and the Franchise Tax Board. One less tax agency would make California a far more attractive place for jobs, retirees, and investment.

If California eliminated income tax, more… Read More

My latest op-ed as seen in The Sacramento Bee.

With prices at the pump heading back up, news of a possible cut to the state’s gas tax will surely cheer California drivers.

On Tuesday, the State Board of Equalization will consider a proposal to cut the state’s gas tax by 7.5 cents a gallon. The proposal stems from a complicated formula enacted by the Legislature in 2010.

While California drivers will surely welcome news of a possible cut, there are some who would rather see gas taxes go up. They think you should be sending more dollars, not fewer, to Sacramento.

But let’s be honest, government already has more than enough of your dollars. Californians pay about 64 cents per gallon in taxes and fees – the second-highest rate in the nation. In reality, we have the nation’s highest gas tax once you include the new hidden gas tax imposed by regulators to help fund the state’s anti-global-warming efforts.

Californians must even pay taxes on their taxes. That’s double taxation – and it’s wrong.

California’s gas tax is so confusing… Read More

The Golden State of California has been dubbed “Crazifornia” and “La-la land,” and called “the land of fruits and nuts.” Furthermore, California’s governor, Jerry Brown, is known as “Governor Moonbeam,” a moniker from which he’d like to disentangle himself.

The rest of the country believes California has earned and deserves these disparaging names. And unless something changes in this batty state, Governor Moonbeam is on track to meticulously and completely destroy the state’s economy and bankrupt the government.

But hey… who’s going to stop him? The media?

Gov’s Agenda – Not Voters’… Read More

Californians just found out this week the new gas tax initiated by the California Air Resources Board, is 10 cents per gallon of gas. However, it will grow.January 1, California began including transportation fuels – gasoline, diesel and propane – in the nation’s first carbon emission cap-and-trading scheme. However, no other state or country in the world has attempted to regulate the sale of gasoline and diesel under a cap-and-trade program, and byAB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act,which requires cutting greenhouse gas emissions in California to 1990 levels by year 2020.

… Read More

Are you better off today than you were two, four or six years ago when progressive Democrats took over and expanded more of government? Of course not: As government grows, liberty decreases.

It was Thomas Jefferson who warned, “The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.”

But elections are changing. Voters are changing. America is changing. California has been leading much of that change, and not in a good way. This election is a potential… Read More