Posts Tagged ‘california state government’

Ruling-Class PayPal Service


Monday January 22nd, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 1:17pm PST   •   0 Comments

Californians pay the highest income and sales taxes in the United States, and the government recently piled on a $5.2 billion tax on gasoline, diesel fuel and vehicle fees. Taxpayers recently got some clues about what the state will do with all that money. According to the state controller, the state is bulking up…
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Another $2.8 Billion Boards Bullet-Train Boondoggle


Wednesday January 17th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:39am PST   •   4 Comments

“A slew of delays and higher-than-expected costs are driving the anticipated price of high-speed rail construction in the central San Joaquin Valley by more than one-third, to about $10.6 billion,” writes Tim Sheehan in the Fresno Bee. “That’s a $2.8 billion jump from the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s estimate in 2016 of $7.8 billion…
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Tax Deduction Trick Leaves Punitive Rates in Place


Monday January 15th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 11:50am PST   •   0 Comments

As we noted, the new federal tax bill caps the amount state taxes filers can deduct on their federal return at $10,000. That displeases California’s senate boss Kevin de Leon, whose Protect California Taxpayers Act will allow Californians to pay their state income taxes as though they were a charitable donation, and therefore fully…
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Government Oroville Cover-up is a Dam Shame


Monday January 8th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 12:04pm PST   •   1 Comment

Last February 7 during heavy rains the Oroville Dam’s concrete spillway failed, launching fears of a complete dam failure, and forcing the evacuation of 188,000 people. As it turned out, government engineers knew for decades that the alternate earthen spillway was unreliable but failed to reinforce it with concrete. As Rep. John Garamendi famously…
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Taxoholism


Friday January 5th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 3:39pm PST   •   2 Comments

The recently passed federal tax bill lowers the corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent, reduces rates in five of the seven tax brackets, and according to the New York Times will cut taxes for about 75 percent of filers in 2018. The bill also caps the amount of state taxes filers can deduct on their federal…
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GovCEQAstudy.Con


Tuesday December 12th, 2017   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:54am PST   •   0 Comments

As California politicians complain about the lack of affordable housing, a new state study claims the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), as a Los Angeles Times report put it, “doesn’t block development from actually happening.” A working family looking for affordable housing in California should have more than a reasonable doubt. The claim that…
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Jerry Brown Claims California Wildfires Are “The New Normal.”


Monday December 11th, 2017   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 11:56am PST   •   0 Comments

As fires rage in southern California, driving nearly 90,000 people from their homes, recurring governor Jerry Brown explains that that because of climate change such fires could be “the new normal” and “this could be something that happens every year or every few years.” As usual, the governor ignores a key back story. The…
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Investigation of Sexual Harassment in California Legislature Is Just for Show


Wednesday December 6th, 2017   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:54am PST   •   1 Comment

Besides Hollywood (Harvey Weinstein), Congress (Al Franken), and the media (Matt Lauer), to name only a few, it turns out that sexual abuse has been thriving in the California legislature. Capitol staffer Elise Flynn Gyore charged that assemblyman Raul Bocanegra groped her at a public event in 2009. Faced with this and other accusations,…
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GovHousingHelp.Con


Tuesday December 5th, 2017   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 3:35am PST   •   1 Comment

In housing, California has been in the throes of what Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, calls an “affordability crisis.” This year governor Jerry Brown signed a batch of bills designed to end the crisis and, as Assemblyman Richard Bloom put it, “make housing affordable again.” Those currently priced out of the market might recall past…
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California Still Trashing Workers’ Rights


Tuesday November 28th, 2017   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:44am PST   •   0 Comments

The California Supreme Court has ruled that the state can impose a contract on employers, in the style of Don Corleone, a deal they can’t refuse. News stories hailed the unanimous ruling as a victory for “farmworkers” but it isn’t. The case deals with Gerawan Farming, a fruit grower in Fresno and Madera counties….
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