Wayne Winegarden
Blog
Is California leaving a large amount of tax revenue on the table?
Flavored Tobacco Prohibition Bans Tax Revenues Not Products
Examining state tax revenues and the volume of legal cigarette sales, it appears that the ban has caused cigarette use to decline. As Figure 1 illustrates, the decline in tax paid cigarette sales accelerated in 2023 following the implementation of the ban. Lost sales translate into lost tax revenues for ...
Climate Change
Fossil Fuel Lawsuits Are A Tax On Consumers
Announcing the state’s lawsuit against energy producers, California AG Rob Bonta claimed it is time to make energy companies pay for “the harm they have caused.” It is one of more than thirty such lawsuits around the country. As I have argued here, here, and here, these lawsuits are not heroic efforts to safeguard the ...
Blog
Read latest on state budget
The Legislature’s Budget Paints White Roses Red
Consequently, the details released thus far indicate that legislators’ plan for balancing the 2024-25 budget will work on paper only. In practice, budget holes will likely persist for the current fiscal year and taxpayers should expect the budget drama to continue long after the official budget is passed on June ...
Business & Economics
Instead Of The CHIPS Act Congress Should Address Patent Troll Abuse
President Biden and Democratic Party leaders are trying to take credit for seeding the next generation of innovations in the information technology sector. Crowing about their latest industrial policy, the CHIPS and Science Act, Senator Schumer stated that “the federal government [is] taking back the reins, putting money where its mouth is ...
Business & Economics
Read the latest on carbon accounting proposals
Activists Use Shareholder Rights To Undermine Shareholders’ Interests
Led by CalPERS, the pension fund for California public workers, activist investors may oppose re-electing ExxonMobil ExxonMobil 0.0% chief executive Darren Woods to the company board. His sin: seeking greater clarification regarding proposals that shareholders have previously rejected multiple times. The issue arises because Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activist investors Arjuna Capital and Follow ...
California
Read about Gov. Newsom's "May Revise" budget proposal
May Revise sets up California for painful spending choices and tax increases
Giving credit where it is due, Gov. Newsom’s “May Revise” budget proposal recognizes the seriousness of the situation. He proposes real cuts, opposes tax increases, and suggests some efficiency improvements – which are all positive steps. Unfortunately, the proposal still relies on too many budget gimmicks and fund shifts. The Newsom plan also underestimates the severity of the current budget shortfall that must be addressed. Making matters worse, growing economic headwinds, including the tech industry laying off over 81,000 people and California’s subpar personal income growth, raises concerns that the ...
Blog
Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?
Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal
Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Business & Economics
Read on the FTC's harmful regulatory overreach
Proposed Oil Mergers Will Improve Competition
Under Chairperson Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has consistently used speculative consumer harms to justify regulatory actions. Unfortunately, these actions often stop mergers that would have improved consumer wellbeing and promoted greater innovation. Making these regulatory actions worse, the agency has too often used dubious justifications and novel theories, even overruling their ...
Business & Economics
Read the latest asset regulation proposal
The FDIC’s Ill-Advised Regulatory Grab
Board members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are aptly demonstrating Einstein’s maxim that “bureaucracy is the death of all sound work”. In this case, the board is considering an expansion of the FDIC’s regulatory reach that would impose more costs on asset managers and the millions of Americans ...
Commentary
Read the latest on drug pricing
Cost-Based Pricing For Innovative Medicines Is Unviable And Harmful
Barber et al. just published a fundamentally flawed study on diabetes medicines in JAMA Network Open (JNO). This study wrongly suggests that cost-based pricing accurately values innovative on-patent medicines, distracts from serious policymaking, and fuels political grandstanding by politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders. Cost-based pricing could be an economically viable pricing ...
Is California leaving a large amount of tax revenue on the table?
Flavored Tobacco Prohibition Bans Tax Revenues Not Products
Examining state tax revenues and the volume of legal cigarette sales, it appears that the ban has caused cigarette use to decline. As Figure 1 illustrates, the decline in tax paid cigarette sales accelerated in 2023 following the implementation of the ban. Lost sales translate into lost tax revenues for ...
Fossil Fuel Lawsuits Are A Tax On Consumers
Announcing the state’s lawsuit against energy producers, California AG Rob Bonta claimed it is time to make energy companies pay for “the harm they have caused.” It is one of more than thirty such lawsuits around the country. As I have argued here, here, and here, these lawsuits are not heroic efforts to safeguard the ...
Read latest on state budget
The Legislature’s Budget Paints White Roses Red
Consequently, the details released thus far indicate that legislators’ plan for balancing the 2024-25 budget will work on paper only. In practice, budget holes will likely persist for the current fiscal year and taxpayers should expect the budget drama to continue long after the official budget is passed on June ...
Instead Of The CHIPS Act Congress Should Address Patent Troll Abuse
President Biden and Democratic Party leaders are trying to take credit for seeding the next generation of innovations in the information technology sector. Crowing about their latest industrial policy, the CHIPS and Science Act, Senator Schumer stated that “the federal government [is] taking back the reins, putting money where its mouth is ...
Read the latest on carbon accounting proposals
Activists Use Shareholder Rights To Undermine Shareholders’ Interests
Led by CalPERS, the pension fund for California public workers, activist investors may oppose re-electing ExxonMobil ExxonMobil 0.0% chief executive Darren Woods to the company board. His sin: seeking greater clarification regarding proposals that shareholders have previously rejected multiple times. The issue arises because Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activist investors Arjuna Capital and Follow ...
Read about Gov. Newsom's "May Revise" budget proposal
May Revise sets up California for painful spending choices and tax increases
Giving credit where it is due, Gov. Newsom’s “May Revise” budget proposal recognizes the seriousness of the situation. He proposes real cuts, opposes tax increases, and suggests some efficiency improvements – which are all positive steps. Unfortunately, the proposal still relies on too many budget gimmicks and fund shifts. The Newsom plan also underestimates the severity of the current budget shortfall that must be addressed. Making matters worse, growing economic headwinds, including the tech industry laying off over 81,000 people and California’s subpar personal income growth, raises concerns that the ...
Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?
Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal
Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Read on the FTC's harmful regulatory overreach
Proposed Oil Mergers Will Improve Competition
Under Chairperson Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has consistently used speculative consumer harms to justify regulatory actions. Unfortunately, these actions often stop mergers that would have improved consumer wellbeing and promoted greater innovation. Making these regulatory actions worse, the agency has too often used dubious justifications and novel theories, even overruling their ...
Read the latest asset regulation proposal
The FDIC’s Ill-Advised Regulatory Grab
Board members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are aptly demonstrating Einstein’s maxim that “bureaucracy is the death of all sound work”. In this case, the board is considering an expansion of the FDIC’s regulatory reach that would impose more costs on asset managers and the millions of Americans ...
Read the latest on drug pricing
Cost-Based Pricing For Innovative Medicines Is Unviable And Harmful
Barber et al. just published a fundamentally flawed study on diabetes medicines in JAMA Network Open (JNO). This study wrongly suggests that cost-based pricing accurately values innovative on-patent medicines, distracts from serious policymaking, and fuels political grandstanding by politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders. Cost-based pricing could be an economically viable pricing ...
