Budget and Finance

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New Internet Tax Looting Scheme

MAY 5, 2011 By JOHN SEILER It just never stops. Never, never, never. The attacks on California taxpayers by the Looting Government Class (LGC) just keep coming. The latest: SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – With California deep in debt, a controversial plan

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LAO Says Zero Out AB 32 Funding

MAY 4, 2011 California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 is in every sense of the word a landmark piece of legislation. Known by its legislative moniker AB 32, the law is, by far, the most sweeping and hard-hitting experiment

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CA Dems Hold Looters' Convention

MAY 2, 2011 By JOHN SEILER H.L. Mencken called elections “advanced auctions of stolen goods.” That certainly was true of last November’s election, in which Gov. Jerry Brown and other Democrats auctioned off California taxpayers’ money to the public-employee unions.

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Inflation Means California Default

APRIL 29, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI A March 24 Los Angeles Times-USC opinion poll indicated that 80 percent of likely California voters favored putting a cap on state spending. That is a remarkable statistic that didn’t make the original headline

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Brutal Tax Assault on Internet Sales

APRIL 28, 2011 By JOHN SEILER California’s tax-increase cult is lobbying to grab every last dollar it can tax — the future of the state be damned. The drumbeat is daily. I wrote yesterday how all three top Los Angeles

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Greenhut-Berardino Debate on Pensions

APRIL 27, 2011 By JOHN SEILER It was the Great Pension Debate. Yesterday Steven Greenhut, editor-in-chief of CalWatchDog.com, debated Nick Berardino, general manager of the Orange County Employees Association, a government union. It was held at the Pacific Club in

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CA Legislators Hustle More Tax Bills

APRIL 25, 2011 By KATY GRIMES With another poll out today saying that voters want to vote on Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax extension increases, the media are mum about the many other tax bills slithering through the Legislature which would greatly

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Why Republicans Hate Tax Increases

APRIL 22, 2011 By JOHN SEILER Republicans are ridiculing President Obama’s call to increase taxes on the rich. And in California, so far Republicans in the Legislature have resisted siren calls to join Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic legislators

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Redevelopment Blights The Golden State

This article was first printed in the Spring 2011 issue of City Journal. APRIL 22, 2011 By STEVEN GREENHUT In Sacramento, Governor Jerry Brown is planning to close California’s $26.6 billion structural deficit through spending cuts and tax extensions. Opposition

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Guards' 'Sweetheart Deal' Hits Taxpayers

APRIL 21, 2011 By JOHN SEILER In the midst of trying to convince Californians to boost their own taxes by $12 billion, Gov. Jerry Brown showed where his true priorities lie. As the Los Angeles Times reported on the deal

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