Posts Tagged: tax

News

California’s marijuana market heads into a difficult 2022

Commercial marijuana being dried at a California facility. (Photo: Shutterstock)

With cannabis taxes to rise on Jan. 1 and a legitimate business landscape plagued by a thriving black market, California’s marijuana industry faces uncertainty. The tax hike — like others before it — stems from a state law requiring the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to recalculate the cultivation tax rates once a year because of inflation.

Opinion

Flush with funds, state should now end 2020 business tax hikes

A photo illustration of California's tax code. (Image: Vitalii Vodolazskyi, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: As part of the 2020-21 state budget accord, the governor and Legislature enacted AB 85,  a budget trailer bill that enacted several tax law changes, including a three-year suspension of the net operating loss deduction and a cap on the use of business tax credits.

News

Fiscal crunch threatens CSU’s ability to meet higher ed. demands

Campus at California State University, Stanislaus. (Photo: CSU)

California State University (CSU) is an engine of economic mobility for Californians, particularly those from historically underrepresented communities. The system’s 23 campuses are also vital in helping the state meet labor market demands for highly educated workers. But despite annual funding increases, CSU has struggled to enroll all eligible students in the face of increased financial pressures, including a lack of bond funding and ballooning costs for deferred maintenance.

Opinion

Working families push for change

Labor union supporters rally at the state Capitol. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: If history has taught us anything, it’s that elections are less about choices in partisan ideology than they are about the real world impact that policies have on the lives of everyday people. In 2018, Americans overwhelmingly turned away from Republican politicians.

News

Gas tax fuels 2018 political fight

Traffic on the 405 in Los Angeles, the nation's busiest freeway. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

California’s new gas tax hike to fund billions of dollars worth of overdue road repairs has only been in effect for a little over a month but Republicans are already trying to overturn it. On Nov. 1, Senate Bill 1, signed by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in the spring after a fierce political battle, increased the excise tax on gas by 12 cents a gallon and the excise tax on diesel fuel by 20 cents a gallon.

News

Inside the Capitol — procedurally

The California State Senate in Sacramento. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)

This is the fourth in a series of detailed articles about the inner workings of the state Capitol relating to structure, rules and procedures — including a look at vetoes and the budget.

News

California’s bumpy path to road repairs

A mid-1930s truck on a Kern County highway. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, Shutterstock)

California’s already poor roads deteriorated to a whole new level of disrepair this winter. Sinkholes have popped up throughout the state and major roads have closed because of damage. To cite just a few major examples: Portions of Interstate 80 and Highways 50 and 49 were closed due to mudslides. Parts of Highway 1 remain closed because of storm damage. Numerous local roads were battered severely.

News

Survey: Support for legal pot, school funding, tobacco tax

Photo illustration: Thomas Pajot, via Shutterstock.

PPIC: Majorities of California’s likely voters strongly support three of four key ballot measures on Nov. 8, including marijuana legalization, a tax increase extension and a new tax on tobacco, according to a new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. Support for the fourth measure surveyed, a $9 billion borrowing for school construction, was far more narrow and within the survey’s margin of error.

Opinion

A voice from the past for 2016

Hunger marchers descend on Washington, D.C., January 1931. (Photo: Everett Historical, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: For those who think the issues at hand are unique to the current domestic dis-tranquility or represent new challenges for inmates of the governing class, gander this: “This is becoming the richest and the poorest country in the world.”

Opinion

Low auction result helps legal case for cap-and-trade

A smog-tinged view in black and white of Century City, Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: When the California Air Resources Board released the results of its May auction of carbon allowances, audible gasps from around the state could be heard from the space station. I kid – but only just a little. The auction results did in fact create a great shock: many had expected at least half a billion dollars to be collected at the quarterly auction, but the auction generated only about ten million dollars. But here’s the truth: The super-low May auction result should actually help the State’s legal defense of cap-and-trade.

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