The Independent

As most working taxpayers will soon realize, beginning November 1st, the state increased withholding by 10%. Officials are saying that this is not a tax increase because at tax time you will owe no more that before the increase. Wrong! It is a tax increase because all withholding is borrowing money from taxpayers without paying interest, and an increase in withholding is borrowing more money without paying interest. The result is more money for government and less for taxpayers, which to reasonable people is a tax increase. Many taxpayers declare fewer dependents than the number to which they are legally entitled to assure that their tax liability is fully covered. If you are in that category, you have the ability to counter this grab for more of your money by changing the number of dependents you declare. However, it is always a good idea to consult with your tax preparer first, before making a change. To change the number of dependents you declare, you will need to fill out a DE-4 fo...

Thank you for writing to Governor Schwarzenegger in opposition to Assembly Bill 1288. Due to a technical error, you may have inadvertently received an outdated response from the Governor's Office, and I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Our office is pleased to inform you that the Governor vetoed AB 1288 after extensive consideration of arguments from both supporters and opponents of the issue. To read the Governor's veto message for the bill, please visit the Official California Legislative Information website at "http://www.leginfo.ca.gov". Again, thank you for taking the time to write. The Governor values your suggestions on how government can better serve the people of our state. Sincerely, Lauren Thurston Office of Constituent Affairs

Dear Friend: I am pleased to let you know that I have joined a bipartisan effort to create a nationwide network for locating missing adults and senior citizens. The Silver Alert Act ( S.557 ) would create a national alert system, modeled after the Amber Alert, providing federal coordination and assistance across state lines to locate missing seniors. The need for this legislation is clear. With an aging population, and a growing number of people who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's disease, thousands of adults go missing every year. Thus, while local law enforcement officials continue to work hard to locate missing seniors, a coordinated national effort makes sense.  The Amber Alert program has proven to be successful in many cases involving missing children. It provides a good model to provide law enforcement agencies with the added resources they need to locate loved ones.  The Silver Alert Act specifically encourages states to develop Silver Alert plans and provides funding t...

State descent began with CalPERS push for pension spike Ten years ago today, California's march toward its present fiscal chaos began. On June 16, 1999, the board of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) -- its investment portfolio bulging after several years of large gains -- voted to ask Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature to broadly increase benefits for more than 800,000 government employees and retirees. There was some skepticism. An aide to Davis, who was then cultivating an image as a pragmatic, can-do centrist, said the governor worried about the prudence of such a broad benefit boost. Assemblyman Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, questioned how CalPERS could assert that the massive benefits hike could be enacted with little or no strain on the state budget. The contention presumed CalPERS' huge portfolio would continue its big annual growth indefinitely. But the Wall Street dot-com boom was at its zenith, with some technology mutual...

Thank you for writing me about AB 1288. I appreciate your suggestions on proposed legislation affecting our state. I generally do not take a position on legislation until a bill has reached my desk because it can change significantly from the time it is introduced until the time it is finalized. For the current session, the California Legislature has until September 11, 2009 to pass legislation, and I have until October 11, 2009 to sign or veto proposed bills. You may continue to follow this and any other bill under consideration by lawmakers at the Official California Legislative website: www.leginfo.ca.gov . You may also read my legislative messages at www.gov.ca.gov . Again, I appreciate your interest in California's future. An informed and engaged public is important for effective government in our state. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger

O.C. double-dippers rake in nearly a half million a year October 14th, 2009, 5:13 am · 61 Comments · posted by Jennifer Muir There’s nothing like sticker shock. That’s just what The Watchdog gets looking at the total amount of dinero county bigwigs like CEO Tom Mauk and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens collect each year. When you add up the pensions they collect from their previous place of employment, and the salaries and benefits they accrue in O.C., they’re raking in nearly a half million bucks a piece. (More specifically, Hutchens earns $492,243 a year from her pension, salary and benefits, and Mauk gets $487,805. We’ll break down those figures later in this post.) Mauk and Hutchens are among the other type of double-dippers working in Orange County. You might remember that the Watchdog wrote a couple weeks ago about Orange County employees who retire, start collecting their pensions, then come back to the county to work part-time. At the time, many of you asked about double-dip...

Governor vetoes anti-puppy mill bill October 12th, 2009, 1:49 pm · 26 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer schwarzenegger-and-dogIt passed in the state Assembly, and it passed the state Senate, but it died this weekend on the governor’s desk. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed The Puppy Mill bill (otherwise known as Assembly Bill 241, The Responsible Breeder Act of 2009.) “This measure would make it a crime for any person or entity to own or control more than 50 unsterilized adult dogs or cats for breeding or raising for sale as pets,” Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message. “I support measures designed to prevent animal cruelty and that punish persons engaged in the abuse of animals. However, this measure simply goes too far in an attempt to address the serious problem of puppy mills. An arbitrary cap on the number of animals any entity can possess throughout the state will not end unlawful, inhumane breeding practices. Instead this measure has the potential to cri...

The approved measures provide a variety of home loan protections for consumers, including a ban on so-called negative-amortization loans. By Marc Lifsher October 12, 2009 | 6:47 p.m. Reporting from Sacramento - In a flurry of end-of-session bill signings, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved seven new laws that provide a range of consumer protections to home-mortgage holders and may allow some to hold on to their houses. Late Sunday night, the governor signed AB 260 by Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance). The measure, which takes effect Jan. 1, tightens restrictions on mortgage brokers so they cannot steer borrowers to riskier, higher-interest loans when they qualify for less-expensive ones. The new law also bans so-called negative-amortization loans, which offer monthly payments that cover no principal and don't even cover all the monthly accrued interest. Such loans amounts can actually grow larger over time. The law also limits prepayment penalties to no more than 2% of th...

The following column appeared in The Wall Street Journal on October 3, 2009: Don't Blame Voters for California's Budget Woes Big spending pols falsely claim citizen ballot initiatives have tied their hands. By SHIKHA DALMIA, ADRIAN MOORE AND ADAM B. SUMMERS With the Golden State still struggling to balance its books, politicians from both sides of the aisle have come up with a nifty way to avoid responsibility for the mess: Blame the voters. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, summed it up for his fellow pols recently by telling a reporter: "All of those propositions tell us how we must spend our money. . . . This is no way, of course, to run a state." State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, has made similar comments in denouncing "ballot-box budgeting." Their indictment is false. Voters aren't tying lawmakers' hands too much, but too little. Here's the background: For decades, state officials have habitually proposed ...

By Jon Coupal Two years ago, when then Assemblywoman Sally Lieber introduced a bill to prohibit the spanking of children, she was ridiculed for what many Californians considered to be frivolous legislation. In light of recent revelations of the "S & M" tinged escapades of a married, middle-aged lawmaker and one or more lobbyists, some capitol observers are wondering if Lieber should have targeted an older demographic. Although the just-resigned legislator, who described his conduct to a colleague unaware that he was also sitting before an open microphone, now says he made it up, it calls into question just what services and gifts are provided by lobbyists in an effort to influence legislation. After all, the lobbyist with whom the official claimed to have this special relationship had business before a committee on which he served as vice-chair. The Sacramento Bee recently completed an analysis of gifts, over and above campaign contributions, that are provided to Californ...

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Issues Statement on Release of Tax Commission Report Sacramento -- In response to the release of the California Tax Commission report, Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, released the following statement today: We are pleased that the California Commission for the 21st Century Economy has arrived at proposals which do no violence to Proposition 13. It should be noted that the original charter for the commission was to deal primarily with the issue of revenue volatility. Of the three major revenue streams to government in California, the property tax under Prop. 13 is the most stable. Thus, it has not only saved taxpayers from being taxed out of their homes, it has proven to be a moderating influence during economic turmoil. It should also be noted that revenue volatility is, by itself, not a problem. It is only a problem in California because our politicians do not have the discipline to save money in boom years. As you ...

By Jon Coupal The rapidly approaching impact that state and local debt will have on government services and taxpayers is likely to be as subtle as a suicide bomber's belt of C-4 explosive. Highly regarded political pundit Dan Walters has compared our state's debt situation to both Enron, "which cooked its books to fool investors and lenders," and a "Third World country whose rulers run up a mountain of debt while squandering revenues." The Legislature's budget analyst, Mac Taylor, estimates that California has more than $200 billion in liabilities that will affect the state's financial health. And this doesn't even include the local debt of cities, counties, special districts and redevelopment agencies. The $200 billion in state debt includes about $35 billion in budget related liabilities -- read this as budget tricks used to paper over the deficit; about $69 billion in bond debt that must be repaid from the general fund; and more tha...

By Daniel Borenstein Staff columnist New data released under court order reveal a shocking pattern of pension spiking by top officials of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District that should alarm residents and prompt taxpayers across California to ask whether public employees in their communities are similarly benefiting from broken retirement systems. The numbers show that two fire chiefs, a deputy chief and an assistant chief who all retired in the past seven years are now each bringing home annual pensions of roughly a quarter-million dollars or more. The pensions far exceed the base salaries the officials were earning during the final year of their employment. Specifically: - Chief Richard Probert, who retired in 2002, currently collects a pension of $249,374 a year. His final year base salary was $196,264. - Deputy Chief Christopher Suter, who retired in 2006, currently collects $260,980 a year. His final year base salary was $174,475. - Assistant Fire...

By Jon Coupal If insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then the California Legislature is indeed an "institution" in more than one sense of the word. Any notion that, because of the recession and related budget crisis, the Legislature would finally "get it" and become fiscally prudent and transparent, is dashed on the rocks of political reality. For example, a fair amount of legislative effort this year was expended on bills that have been vetoed in previous years. Unless there has been a change in the Governor's office (or in his predisposition), taxpayers can rightfully wonder why many of these bills are being advanced yet again. Of the numerous veto requests from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to Governor Schwarzenegger, at least six have been vetoed in previous years. Repetitive bills and meaningless bills -- think Blueberry Commission -- are bad enough. But add to that the blatant di...