The Independent

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 Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com Thursday, October 1, 2009 You've got to love Michael Moore. He's running around promoting his new film that says capitalism is a terrible system, a rotten-to-the-core philosophy. But hold it. Didn't Moore have to raise money to make the movie through capitalistic vehicles? Or did his dad give him the dough? In one of his many interviews, Moore began lecturing President Obama: "You are one of us... this is not the time to be the representative of the private health insurance industry. We need you to stand up... and we want universal health care for every single American and we want it controlled in a single payer system..." Wow, anything else, Mike? I'd love to know how President Obama feels about being told what to do by the likes of Michael Moore, a man who admires the Cuban political system. I'd like to believe the president tunes radical stuff out, but there is growing evidence that he does not...

So with some historic irony, one year and two weeks after Lehman Bros. bit the dust, another debt-burdened, credit-reliant, potentially “too big to fail” institution is looking to either stick its bondholders with a raw deal or enter sudden bankruptcy. We won’t pretend to know exactly how this one will end, but the market has certainly voiced its opinion: Heh, and of course, Goldman Sachs has a horse in this race. They stand to make about a billion bucks if CIT goes into bankruptcy -- the fruits of a smartly designed loan agreement. Hank Paulson, despite his GS pedigree, didn’t make such a deal when he put $2.3 billion in TARP funds on the line… a CIT bankruptcy would mean a near-total loss of taxpayer bailout loans. CIT is one of the biggest lending sources for small- and medium-size business in America… what happens to this recovery when this well runs dry?

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named the seven senators who voted on September 14 to continue sending tax dollars for housing and community development programs to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) its Porkers of the Month.  The seven senators are Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).  The 83-7 vote to cut off funding for the group in the fiscal year 2010 Department of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act came on the heels of the release of explosive video footage of ACORN’s employees in Baltimore, Md., Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, N.Y., and San Bernardino, Calif. giving questionable legal and tax advice to filmmaker James O'Keefe and a female friend posing as a pimp and a prostitute.  ACORN’s employees gave guidance on how to shelter income illegally, misl...

By Dennis Wyatt Managing Editor The professor was indignant. "The state should be ashamed of themselves," she told the TV news crew. "They need to find some other way to make cuts." Another University of California employee -- a custodian -- got students who were worked up about tuition topping $10,000 a year and staff being cut to let out loud whoops of approval when she said the university had the "audacity" to lay off a quarter of the people who keep the buildings clean. Audacity indeed. Anyone watching TV news in California is treated with an almost nightly barrage of indignant public employees from the state level on down howling at what they are faced with -- non-paid furloughs and pay cuts -- and even some who are losing their jobs to layoffs. It is a reality private sector workers have faced for decades. Their temperament is decidedly different than NUMMI workers or a host of others you see that lose their jobs in the privat...