California
Blog
Notes from Taxifornia
Last week, as millions of Californians filed their tax returns on the delayed July 15 tax deadline, there was good and bad news on the tax increase front in Taxifornia. Split Roll Tax Increase Campaign Based on Class Warfare I wrote last month that how the 2020-21 state budget deal, ...
Tim Anaya
July 20, 2020
California
Racial preferences or school choice? How to improve education for non-white students
One of the most important questions in America today is how to improve the quality of education for underrepresented minorities so that they can succeed in life. Two huge political earthquakes offer two vastly different answers: racial preferences and school choice. In the first earthquake, the California Legislature voted to ...
Lance Izumi
July 17, 2020
Blackouts
State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class
At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
Kerry Jackson
July 17, 2020
Blog
California Near Rock-Bottom Again on Yet Another National Ranking
Another national list, another nearly rock-bottom ranking for California. It’s become too predictable. When WalletHub, a prolific producer of lists, says that California is 48th among the states on “taxpayer return on investment” (forget for the moment that taxes are not investments but funds to operate government, and a drain ...
Kerry Jackson
July 16, 2020
Blackouts
State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class
At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
Kerry Jackson
July 14, 2020
California
Would Sacramento raise taxes when economic growth is needed the most?
The pandemic lockdown not only was a lethal financial contagion for many Californians, it deprived the state government of so much revenue that Sacramento now has a $54 billion budget deficit. How will lawmakers bridge the gap? By coincidence, they were already thinking about nearly $66 billion in new taxes ...
Kerry Jackson
July 14, 2020
Blog
Latest Rankings Further Proof California Must Remove Barriers to Opportunity
Recently, I attended a webinar hosted by the Legatum Institute, a UK-based think tank, where they discussed the results of their latest “Prosperity Index”. According to the Index’s executive summary, Legatum hopes that “nations around the world (will) assess their strengths and weaknesses (in the rankings) to determine the economic ...
Tim Anaya
July 14, 2020
Business & Economics
Damon Dunn – Punting Poverty
This podcast is a special rebroadcast of a recent webinar featuring Damon Dunn, PRI fellow in business and economics, discussing his new book Punting Poverty: Breaking the Chains of Welfare. The former collegiate and pro football player turned entrepreneur pushes back against the universal basic income movement, calling it “fool’s ...
Pacific Research Institute
July 13, 2020
Blog
California’s Plastic Bag Ban Returns After Two-Month Vacation
California’s coronavirus pandemic lockdown isn’t over. There was even a partial reversal of the state’s reopening on the first day of July when Gov. Gavin Newsom hit the “dimmer switch.” But not much can come between California and its plastic bag ban. After a two-month vacation, it’s back. In late ...
Kerry Jackson
July 13, 2020
Commentary
Dems Want to Use Medicaid to Incinerate Yet More Taxpayer Money
Congressional Democrats are looking to put billions more federal dollars into Medicaid as part of their plan to fight COVID-19. The HEROES Act, which narrowly passed the House in May, would temporarily increase the share of the program’s spending covered by the federal government, to the tune of $45 billion ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 12, 2020
Notes from Taxifornia
Last week, as millions of Californians filed their tax returns on the delayed July 15 tax deadline, there was good and bad news on the tax increase front in Taxifornia. Split Roll Tax Increase Campaign Based on Class Warfare I wrote last month that how the 2020-21 state budget deal, ...
Racial preferences or school choice? How to improve education for non-white students
One of the most important questions in America today is how to improve the quality of education for underrepresented minorities so that they can succeed in life. Two huge political earthquakes offer two vastly different answers: racial preferences and school choice. In the first earthquake, the California Legislature voted to ...
State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class
At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
California Near Rock-Bottom Again on Yet Another National Ranking
Another national list, another nearly rock-bottom ranking for California. It’s become too predictable. When WalletHub, a prolific producer of lists, says that California is 48th among the states on “taxpayer return on investment” (forget for the moment that taxes are not investments but funds to operate government, and a drain ...
State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class
At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
Would Sacramento raise taxes when economic growth is needed the most?
The pandemic lockdown not only was a lethal financial contagion for many Californians, it deprived the state government of so much revenue that Sacramento now has a $54 billion budget deficit. How will lawmakers bridge the gap? By coincidence, they were already thinking about nearly $66 billion in new taxes ...
Latest Rankings Further Proof California Must Remove Barriers to Opportunity
Recently, I attended a webinar hosted by the Legatum Institute, a UK-based think tank, where they discussed the results of their latest “Prosperity Index”. According to the Index’s executive summary, Legatum hopes that “nations around the world (will) assess their strengths and weaknesses (in the rankings) to determine the economic ...
Damon Dunn – Punting Poverty
This podcast is a special rebroadcast of a recent webinar featuring Damon Dunn, PRI fellow in business and economics, discussing his new book Punting Poverty: Breaking the Chains of Welfare. The former collegiate and pro football player turned entrepreneur pushes back against the universal basic income movement, calling it “fool’s ...
California’s Plastic Bag Ban Returns After Two-Month Vacation
California’s coronavirus pandemic lockdown isn’t over. There was even a partial reversal of the state’s reopening on the first day of July when Gov. Gavin Newsom hit the “dimmer switch.” But not much can come between California and its plastic bag ban. After a two-month vacation, it’s back. In late ...
Dems Want to Use Medicaid to Incinerate Yet More Taxpayer Money
Congressional Democrats are looking to put billions more federal dollars into Medicaid as part of their plan to fight COVID-19. The HEROES Act, which narrowly passed the House in May, would temporarily increase the share of the program’s spending covered by the federal government, to the tune of $45 billion ...