Since California voters have voted to make the temporary “soak the rich” state income tax essentially a permanent levy, it’s worth looking at just what this means for the wealthy, and what their residency options are. Here’s a summary of the California state individual income tax, compared with the other 49 states. It is excerpted from my dreary fact sheet “California vs. the Other States”:

www.TinyURL.com/CA-vs-other-states

I’m posting the helpful chart comparing brackets — a newer chart than I’ve referenced before. New though it is, it’s already outdated:

1. Tennessee has TOTALLY repealed their state income tax. Previously they taxed only interest and dividends, but they’ve dropped that tax starting in 2016.

2. New Hampshire also exempts earned income — taxing only interest and dividends at 5%.

EXCERPT: … Read More

The Commonwealth Foundation, a think tank based in Pennsylvania, has recently released a study entitled “Transforming Labor – A Comprehensive, Nationwide Comparison and Grading of Public Sector Labor Laws.” It ranked every state in terms of the relative power of public sector unions. California, along with tiny Maryland, were the only states that got an F.

If you view the map presented in the Commonwealth study, there is a strong correlation between states controlled by the GOP vs those controlled by Democrats. Nearly all the Democrat controlled states with large urban populations get D grades, with the notable exceptions of Florida (C), and Texas (A). We can perhaps learn something from the outliers – why did Texas get an A and why does Montana get a D? But California is in a class by itself.

When performing this analysis, the studies author, Priya M. Abraham,… Read More

California politicians and their union bosses lack all shame in their self-enrichment at public expense. Their outrageous conduct has ravaged the once-prosperous Golden State, consigning taxpayers to $1.5 trillion in debt and another $1 trillion in pension debt. Yet the voting public seems oblivious.

The rest of America has watched without much empathy as California’s politicians deal death-blow after death-blow to the once Golden State through insane, hypocritical and often… Read More

While there is certainly extensive discussion and speculation as to the public policy consequences in Washington, DC about the outcome of the Presidential Election, we here in California know that our Legislature’s policy agenda does not wait for the federal government. In fact, in many ways, we have seen the California Legislature reach far beyond federal laws on important small business issues such as minimum wage, labor mandates, and environmental regulations.

This is why the small business community is paying close attention to what the California… Read More

If taxpayers focus on the results of the recent election, there may not seem to be much to celebrate. While the rest of America took a big step toward fiscal sanity, the same cannot be said of California. At the state level, all 3 taxes, one on marijuana users, one on smokers and another on higher income taxpayers, passed. Fueled by massive special interest campaign spending, tax hike proponents convinced voters that they were simply raising taxes on “other people” which made them more palatable.

The bright spot among the 17 statewide measures was the approval of Proposition 54, which will provide much needed transparency over the California Legislature. For years taxpayers have wanted legislative bills to be available for public review prior to being voted on. Prop 54 makes that happen.

At the local level, it looks like 80 percent of the local taxes and bonds were approved. The good news is that, largely due to the requirements of Jarvis initiatives Proposition 13 and Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act, these measures were decided by voters rather than being imposed by out of touch public officials.

To read the entire column click here… Read More

“We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” – Peter Thiel, in his 2011 manifesto “What Happened to the Future.”

Anyone living in California who’s paying attention knows what venture capitalist Thiel meant. While a handful of Silicon Valley social media entrepreneurs have amassed almost indescribable wealth, andfundamentally transformed how humanity communicates, investment in boring things like roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, aqueducts, reservoirs and railroads – the list is endless – has stagnated. Especially in California. Flying cars? Forget about it. Go tweet.

Why? Why the neglect?

(1) For starters, why invest in moving atoms around, which is messy and might incur the wrath of powerful climate change activists, when you can move electrons… Read More

Lefties are “enraged” that Hillary Clinton has won the popular vote, but not the Presidency. Actually she’s won a PLURALITY but NOT a majority of the votes. It looks like she’ll win the “most votes” award by somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 votes — probably closer to a million or more, when the final count is in. According to the latest tally, she leads by 0.9% in the popular vote.

Naturally the Progressives are now complaining about the Electoral College system. And that IS an issue that merits review and discussion. It’s the fifth time this outcome has happened in Presidential elections. Perhaps more interesting, it’s the FOURTEENTH time a President has been elected with less than 50% of the popular vote. http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-won-because-hillary-clinton-flopped-1479342340

Isn’t it odd that Mrs. Clinton and the Left didn’t raise the issue BEFORE the election? Actually not — they thought they had it in the… Read More

If you just got used to an intense political environment, don’t worry — the 2018 campaign is now under way. In California, that means all state constitutional offices will be up, and with them, the opportunity to chart a new course for the Golden State. And the state can use it, with taxes continuing to rise, a looming pension debt, and a Democrat-controlled state legislature completely out of touch with California’s middle class.

As Republican registration continues its decade-long decline, Democrats and their allies will be out in force trying to convince the donor community that no Republican has a shot, so they may as well pony up for the least objectionable leftist now.

Not so fast.… Read More