Studies

Business & Economics

California Tax Facts 2011

State of California General Fund Tax Revenue, Fiscal Year 2010 July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010 up 5.6% from FY 2009 Source: California State Controller (p. 12) $86.58 billion California Tax Facts 2011 – Revenue Sour Personal Income Taxes $44.83 billion 52% Retail Sales and Use Taxes $26.74 billion   ...
Business & Economics

No Bang for the Taxpayer’s Buck: Why California Must Reform Spending and Trim Government

California Government Spending The estimate for California’s total state spending in 2009–10 is $125.1 billion, of which General Fund spending constitutes 69.1 percent. Total state spending (nominal) has increased from $75.3 billion in 1998–99 to $125.1 billion in 2009–10 (an increase of 66.2 percent). The increases over this period outpaced ...
Business & Economics

PRI Study: Californians Deserve Better Value for Tax Dollars

San Francisco— California government can do more with fewer taxpayer dollars, according to a new study released today by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco. No Bang for the Taxpayer’s Buck: Why California Must Reform Spending and Trim Government finds that California is ...
Business & Economics

Can We Fix the California Crackup?

Last month, Joe Mathews and Mark Paul of the New America Foundation came to Sacramento to promote their new book, California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It. Few if any in the audience at the University of California Sacramento Center took issue with ...
Education

Back Stories to Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman, touted by Oprah, Bill Gates and other celebrities, is now playing California theatres. Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim directed the film, best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Several back stories, and the star, will not be apparent on the big screen. Waiting for Superman follows five ...
Business & Economics

The Whole 209 Yards: California’s Proposition for the Nation

The November elections have been dominating the news, obscuring a story of great interest to Contrarian readers. Those readers know that this column finds little merit in most government policies on women’s issues or gender issues. Sometimes, however, a government measure can have a positive effect. That even holds true ...
Business & Economics

The Prospective Effects of Proposition 23 on Employment in California

Suspension of AB 32 Would Add 150,000 Jobs in California in 2011 and More than 500,000 in 2012, According to New Study San Francisco— A new study by the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, finds that the approval of Proposition 23, suspending the implementation ...
Business & Economics

Does California’s Budget Crisis Discriminate Against Women?

A group of California legislators and community leaders recently met on the steps of the state capitol to protest Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts. The group charged that these budget cuts disproportionately affect women, but the claim ignores some key realities. “We are here to say we’d like to ...
California

Governor Schwarzenegger: Don’t Build This Wall!

One of President Reagan’s most famous quotes was his appeal to Soviet Communist Party Chairman Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” Governor Schwarzenegger has a similar opportunity to prevent a wall that limits people’s freedom from being built in the first place. ObamaCare relies on states to implement most of ...
Education

New Study Finds GI Junior Scholarships Would Expand Education Options for CA Military Children

New policy brief finds that providing military families with school vouchers to allow parents to choose schools that best fit their children’s needs would raise educational achievement and save the state money. Sacramento— Today, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based public policy think tank, released a policy brief on ...
Business & Economics

California Tax Facts 2011

State of California General Fund Tax Revenue, Fiscal Year 2010 July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010 up 5.6% from FY 2009 Source: California State Controller (p. 12) $86.58 billion California Tax Facts 2011 – Revenue Sour Personal Income Taxes $44.83 billion 52% Retail Sales and Use Taxes $26.74 billion   ...
Business & Economics

No Bang for the Taxpayer’s Buck: Why California Must Reform Spending and Trim Government

California Government Spending The estimate for California’s total state spending in 2009–10 is $125.1 billion, of which General Fund spending constitutes 69.1 percent. Total state spending (nominal) has increased from $75.3 billion in 1998–99 to $125.1 billion in 2009–10 (an increase of 66.2 percent). The increases over this period outpaced ...
Business & Economics

PRI Study: Californians Deserve Better Value for Tax Dollars

San Francisco— California government can do more with fewer taxpayer dollars, according to a new study released today by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco. No Bang for the Taxpayer’s Buck: Why California Must Reform Spending and Trim Government finds that California is ...
Business & Economics

Can We Fix the California Crackup?

Last month, Joe Mathews and Mark Paul of the New America Foundation came to Sacramento to promote their new book, California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It. Few if any in the audience at the University of California Sacramento Center took issue with ...
Education

Back Stories to Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman, touted by Oprah, Bill Gates and other celebrities, is now playing California theatres. Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim directed the film, best documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Several back stories, and the star, will not be apparent on the big screen. Waiting for Superman follows five ...
Business & Economics

The Whole 209 Yards: California’s Proposition for the Nation

The November elections have been dominating the news, obscuring a story of great interest to Contrarian readers. Those readers know that this column finds little merit in most government policies on women’s issues or gender issues. Sometimes, however, a government measure can have a positive effect. That even holds true ...
Business & Economics

The Prospective Effects of Proposition 23 on Employment in California

Suspension of AB 32 Would Add 150,000 Jobs in California in 2011 and More than 500,000 in 2012, According to New Study San Francisco— A new study by the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, finds that the approval of Proposition 23, suspending the implementation ...
Business & Economics

Does California’s Budget Crisis Discriminate Against Women?

A group of California legislators and community leaders recently met on the steps of the state capitol to protest Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts. The group charged that these budget cuts disproportionately affect women, but the claim ignores some key realities. “We are here to say we’d like to ...
California

Governor Schwarzenegger: Don’t Build This Wall!

One of President Reagan’s most famous quotes was his appeal to Soviet Communist Party Chairman Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” Governor Schwarzenegger has a similar opportunity to prevent a wall that limits people’s freedom from being built in the first place. ObamaCare relies on states to implement most of ...
Education

New Study Finds GI Junior Scholarships Would Expand Education Options for CA Military Children

New policy brief finds that providing military families with school vouchers to allow parents to choose schools that best fit their children’s needs would raise educational achievement and save the state money. Sacramento— Today, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based public policy think tank, released a policy brief on ...
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