Taxes are not the only way government wrings money out of the workers. Governments also impose fees, and the Sacramento Bee has recently exposed one of California’s favorite tricks: Government establishes fees, which the Bee describes as “targeted assessments to people who participate or benefit from a state program for the purpose of funding…
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Columnist Paul Krugman denies that “liberal big spending and overpaid public employees were bringing on collapse” in California, and he parrots governor Jerry Brown’s claim that the Golden State is on the comeback trail. Before joining the celebration, taxpayers might examine a new report from the Bureau of State Audits that pegs California’s net…
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“These people are collecting their hourly rates, flying out here to do whatever it is they do, eating peanuts and watching TV on the plane. When they get here, their usual hourly rate kicks in again. These guys are just rolling.” That may sound like a rant from some television tabloid but it’s actually…
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As we noted in July, the California Parks Department managed to hide $54 million for 12 years. For more than a decade, the California Department of Finance, responsible for such matters, failed to find the money. But apparently performance has improved. The same Finance Department managed to find an additional $1.4 billion available for…
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As this column shows, government waste, fraud and abuse is rampant at all levels. Seldom, however, has any politician attempted to give divine sanction to government greed in the style of California Governor Jerry Brown, who once wanted a California space program and recently signed off on a $68 billion railroad train. The former…
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