Tag "Taxes"

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Bad actors, lousy script, in CA budget ‘play’

June 13, 2012 By Katy Grimes California’s budget process has become a charade–it’s like watching a really amateurish play, with bad actors who do not know their lines, haven’t read the script fully, but know that someone dies at the

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The tangled web of High-speed spending

June 11, 2012 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — With the looming state budget deadline of June 15, most lawmakers are at least pretending to have budget issues in their sights at the moment. But there are still thousands of bills

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Moonbeamasaurus and giant labor lizards

June 11, 2012 Katy Grimes: Politics in 2012 California feels more like the Mesozoic age. Around every corner is a predator, waiting to pounce in search of its next meal. Predatory labor lizard unions, public employee unions, politicians, special interest

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Sacramento redevelopment repackaged?

Katy Grimes: John Shirey, Sacramento’s latest city manager and former director of California’s  defunct Redevelopment Agency, sent out an email this evening promoting local business “opportunities” connecting with “resources.” Only those “resources” are being repackaged as opportunities for small businesses as

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Illegal tax pays for new state employees

June 7, 2012 Katy Grimes: California lawmakers apparently didn’t get the message voters sent on Tuesday night. Earlier today, the Sen. Budget Committee approved Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to spend another $6.4 million collecting the State Responsibility Area fire tax,

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Prop 29 tobacco tax defeated

June 6, 2012 Katy Grimes: Ballotpedia just reported that Proposition 29, the Tobacco tax, was defeated 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. Whew! That was close. But in the end, I think voters are just distrustful of another tax, and particularly

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Walker win a repudiation of big labor

June 5, 2012 By Katy Grimes Commentary When the big news outlets called the Wisconsin election for Gov. Scott Walker early, it was apparent that blue is going to be the new red in November. Despite the Associated Press announcing

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CA shakedown headed for a breakdown

June 4, 2012 By Katy Grimes California legislators looked as if they were working hard last week, with hundreds of bills to debate and vote on. But it wasn’t difficult to see that much of it was for show. They

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Bill to create ‘segregated’ school discipline

June 1, 2012 Katy Grimes: With all of the recent talk about nanny states and politicians interjecting themselves into the personal lives of citizens, another such bill was passed in the Assembly Thursday. But this bill will allow the state of

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Nanny Mayor orders supersize downsize

May 31, 2012 Katy Grimes: In the land of nanny governments, contradictions abound. In California, lawmakers have banned and taxed smoking, tried to ban plastic bags and polystyrene food containers, regulated the Happy Meal, mandated breaks and vacation time for

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