Tag "Wayne Lusvardi"
Back to homepageTax hike could just go to pensions
April 4, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi Looks like California won’t need a tax hike after all—except to fund pensions. Economist Jeff Michael is the director of the University of the Pacific’s Business Forecast Center in Stockton. He tentatively indicates that
Read MoreRedevelopment Morphs Into Loan Sharking
April 2, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi California redevelopment agencies may have been phased out. But cities are getting into the business of loan sharking to offset a decline in sales and property taxes. Last week the Ventura City Council voted
Read MoreGreens Want Energy Bubble Loans from CPUC
MARCH 30, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI California is getting strapped for cash to continue to pay for subsidies for economically infeasible solar power and energy efficiency projects for homeowners and small businesses. So the Environmental Defense Fund has concocted a
Read MoreFeinstein Ends Truce, Restarts Water Wars
MARCH 29, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI California’s water wars are back. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter to the Association of California Water Agencies late Tuesday March 27 again pitting North against South. The letter stated Feinstein was
Read MoreBrown’s Tax Canoe Headed For Water Fall
MARCH 23, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI California Gov. Jerry Brown likens himself to a canoeist who paddles a little to the Left then a little to the Right. Lately, he has been paddling Left with labor unions to propose a
Read MoreCA Liberals Blocking Housing for Poor
MARCH 21, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI We are hearing a lot about how California cannot close a $10 billion budget gap. But California has allowed 400 redevelopment agencies to retain about $2 billion in funds set aside for so-called “affordable
Read MoreLow Interest Rates Will Kill Tax Hikes
MARCH 20, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI All the proposed ballot initiatives to increase taxes in California are headed for a hard fall at the ballot box – because the economy is sluggish. And the economy won’t pick up speed unless
Read More396,345 Jobs Lost if Property Tax Split
MARCH 19, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI The Davenport School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University is out with a blockbuster new study on the affects of the proposed elimination of caps on commercial property taxes provided for under Proposition 13.
Read MoreMunger’s Tax Increase Doesn’t Add Up
MARCH 14, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Molly Munger’s proposed $10 billion school tax for the Nov. 2012 ballot had to be designed by a billionaire. It’s hard to know whether Munger designed the ballot initiative for the “Make a Wish
Read MoreFour New California Cities Might Dissolve
Editor’s Note: Correction Below MARCH 13, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Newspapers across the United States have told of the financial plight of three cities in northern California facing possible bankruptcy: Stockton, Hercules and Lincoln. However, many may not be aware
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