Jason Clemens
Business & Economics
Greetings from California
I simply noted that California has very high tax rates, a bloated and expensive government bureaucracy, and one of the largest public sectors (as measured by government spending as a share of state economic output) in the country. This excellent report from the Pacific Research Institute has plenty of details.
Business & Economics
Repair California’s Fiscal Problems Ourselves – or the Capital Markets Will
Events in Washington, D.C. have overshadowed the ongoing fiscal calamity in Sacramento, where earlier this month state legislators basically rejected the governors reforms almost as soon as they were released. Despite the uncertainty shrouding the capital, the budget crisis will be solved one way or another. This certainty is ...
Business & Economics
Jon Coupal: Prop. 13 blameless for state crisis
When California voters approved Proposition 13 by a landslide in 1978, they launched a nationwide revolt for lower taxes. Critics now blame that revolt for our current fiscal crisis. That charge needs to be considered in the light of actual data about property taxes in California. Prop. 13 limits property ...
Business & Economics
Opinion: The Crisis That Went to Waste
(Jan. 26) “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” That’s what White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said in November 2008 to justify the incoming administration’s bold policy proposals including, especially, health care reform. In one sense, Emanuel was right. Generally speaking, in times of ...
Business & Economics
Taxing consumption, not income
Clemens is director of research and Murphy is a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute. They are co-authors of the California Prosperity Project series of studies. Commission recommends changes to make state revenue less volatile The report by the state Commission on the 21st Century Economy, delivered Tuesday after ...
Business & Economics
State Commission Recommends Tax Reforms for a New Century
The Commission on the 21st Century Economy, tasked by the governor to modernize the state’s tax system and stabilize revenues, finally delivered its report this week. The main recommendations are to eliminate the state sales tax and corporate income tax and replace them with a new “net receipts tax” on ...
Business & Economics
California is getting left in the dust
EVEN during an economic meltdown of the proportions being suffered now, base politicking doesn’t stop in California. When asked why Golden State finances have been doing so badly, officials are quick to point to the national recession, claiming it has slowed down local industry and decreased the amount of revenue ...
Business & Economics
Assessing the State of the Golden State
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, found that California’s labor performance over the last five years is among the worst performing in the nation, ranking 48th and besting only Michigan and Mississippi. The ranking was published in the new study “Assessing the State of ...
Business & Economics
The Case Against A Tobacco Tax Increase
California lawmakers have proposed an increase in cigarette taxes by $1.50 a pack, estimated to raise $1.2 billion in annual revenues. Given the state’s massive fiscal deficit, such an increase may appear to be a sensible part of a longer-term budget solution. Appearances can be deceiving. An increase in the ...
Business & Economics
Cut the Budget, Arnold
Could things get any worse for California’s economy? State unemployment in June jumped to 11.6 percent — the highest rate on record, and among the top six nationally. Frantic negotiations between Governor Schwarzenegger and Sacramento lawmakers have yielded a deal to meet the government’s $26-billion budget shortfall, but as of ...
Greetings from California
I simply noted that California has very high tax rates, a bloated and expensive government bureaucracy, and one of the largest public sectors (as measured by government spending as a share of state economic output) in the country. This excellent report from the Pacific Research Institute has plenty of details.
Repair California’s Fiscal Problems Ourselves – or the Capital Markets Will
Events in Washington, D.C. have overshadowed the ongoing fiscal calamity in Sacramento, where earlier this month state legislators basically rejected the governors reforms almost as soon as they were released. Despite the uncertainty shrouding the capital, the budget crisis will be solved one way or another. This certainty is ...
Jon Coupal: Prop. 13 blameless for state crisis
When California voters approved Proposition 13 by a landslide in 1978, they launched a nationwide revolt for lower taxes. Critics now blame that revolt for our current fiscal crisis. That charge needs to be considered in the light of actual data about property taxes in California. Prop. 13 limits property ...
Opinion: The Crisis That Went to Waste
(Jan. 26) “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” That’s what White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said in November 2008 to justify the incoming administration’s bold policy proposals including, especially, health care reform. In one sense, Emanuel was right. Generally speaking, in times of ...
Taxing consumption, not income
Clemens is director of research and Murphy is a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute. They are co-authors of the California Prosperity Project series of studies. Commission recommends changes to make state revenue less volatile The report by the state Commission on the 21st Century Economy, delivered Tuesday after ...
State Commission Recommends Tax Reforms for a New Century
The Commission on the 21st Century Economy, tasked by the governor to modernize the state’s tax system and stabilize revenues, finally delivered its report this week. The main recommendations are to eliminate the state sales tax and corporate income tax and replace them with a new “net receipts tax” on ...
California is getting left in the dust
EVEN during an economic meltdown of the proportions being suffered now, base politicking doesn’t stop in California. When asked why Golden State finances have been doing so badly, officials are quick to point to the national recession, claiming it has slowed down local industry and decreased the amount of revenue ...
Assessing the State of the Golden State
The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, found that California’s labor performance over the last five years is among the worst performing in the nation, ranking 48th and besting only Michigan and Mississippi. The ranking was published in the new study “Assessing the State of ...
The Case Against A Tobacco Tax Increase
California lawmakers have proposed an increase in cigarette taxes by $1.50 a pack, estimated to raise $1.2 billion in annual revenues. Given the state’s massive fiscal deficit, such an increase may appear to be a sensible part of a longer-term budget solution. Appearances can be deceiving. An increase in the ...
Cut the Budget, Arnold
Could things get any worse for California’s economy? State unemployment in June jumped to 11.6 percent — the highest rate on record, and among the top six nationally. Frantic negotiations between Governor Schwarzenegger and Sacramento lawmakers have yielded a deal to meet the government’s $26-billion budget shortfall, but as of ...
