Budget and Finance
Back to homepageFed Debt Default Imperils CA Budget
JULY 14, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Purgatory is a temporary place of agony, torment and suffering between heaven and hell. that is apparently where California’s state budget might be headed if the federal government, by failing to raise the federal
Read MorePension reformer files 3 state initiatives
JULY 13, 2011 Editor’s Note: The following is a statement from the California Center for Public Policy regarding three initiatives it filed with the state attorney general on Tuesday: The California Center for Public Policy submitted three initiatives for titles and
Read MoreAmazon Rallies Affiliates to Fight Tax
JULY 12, 2011 By JOHN SEILER Amazon.com didn’t waste time in working to repeal the so-called “Amazon” tax. The tax was passed last month by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. The tax is
Read MoreSchool Funding Reform Skewered by CTA
JULY 11, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI In California, all good ideas for school reform seem to end up in the corner wearing a dunce cap. Back on May 3, I reported on promising development in state Assembly Bill 18, a proposal by Assemblywoman Julia
Read MoreUnions Might Seek 43% Tax Increase
JULY 10, 2011 By JOHN SEILER California’s government unions could seek a 43 percent tax increase on wealthy Californians. The Contra Costa Times reported on the action, but missed the magnitude of the tax increase. The Times: SACRAMENTO — Labor leaders were
Read MoreSmaller Classrooms Hurt Kids
John Seiler: I’ve been fighting for at least 15 years the bad idea that smaller classrooms necessarily are better. California enacted class-size reductions in the mid-1990s. With budget problems, that “reform” now is being reviewed. The class-size reductions were advanced
Read MoreProp. 13 Circuit Breaker Halts Tax Losses
JULY 8, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI AND CHARLES B. WARREN California’s Proposition 13 is working to halt a larger and faster erosion of the property tax base in Sacramento County and elsewhere around the state. But that is not what
Read MoreCalifornia Budget: Austerity or Audacity?
JULY 7, 2011 It’s not over. Even though Gov. Jerry Brown signed the budget on June 30, lawmakers are churning out more legislation. And Capitol legislative committees are currently hearing hundreds of new spending and regulation bills. Facing a $26
Read MoreBudget Assumptions Don't Hold Up
JULY 7, 2011 By JOHN SEILER Not even a week old, the California budget Gov. Jerry Brown signed already is out of balance. “They did not cut as much as they needed to, and they pushed up revenue estimates,” Esmael
Read More$700K State Salaries Bust Budget
JUNE 6, 2011 He’s not a Nobel Prize-winning physician. He’s not the founder of a life science company. He’s not even a Hollywood plastic surgeon. Yet he earned an enviable $777,423 last year. He’s a doctor at High Desert State
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