Mike Antonovich Sends a Warning

ANTONOVICH WARNS “CLEAN WATER” TAX FLYER MISLEADING

LOS ANGELES COUNTY—Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich urged county residents to check their mailboxes for the “Official Notice to Property Owners of Public Hearing” which could result in a property tax increase.

“While the mailing looks like junk mail, it is an important document that allows one to protest the proposed parcel tax,” he said. 

“It is vital that property owners return the protest form to stop this additional tax,” he added.  “Property owners, schools and businesses already pay flood control taxes and now they are being asked to fork over more money at a time when families are struggling, schools are hurting and businesses are fleeing the state.”

Residents have until January 15 to file their objection by returning their protest form or protesting at the public hearing on January 15, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. in the Hearing Room of the Board of Supervisors at the Hall of Administration.  If a majority of the property owners do not object, the Board of Supervisors can approve a mail-in-ballot to be sent to all property owners in March.  Passage requires only a simple majority.

Those who misplaced this mailer, please call (800) 218-0018 or emailwater.info@dpw.lacounty.gov.  

To view sample flyer click the following link: http://antonovich.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/LACWCB_Ballona-Creek-Watershed-Notice1.pdf

CRP Statement in Response to Governor Brown's Call for Massive Tax Increases

SACRAMENTO — California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro today issued the following statement in response to Governor Brown's latest call for massive new tax increases:

 

"For more than a decade, Sacramento Democrats have been coming up with one tax raising scheme or another - none of which have worked.  The answer to our budget and revenue problems lies not in taking more money from those already working but in finding work for those that are not.

 

"The fact that Governor Brown refused to present his tax hike to the press today demonstrates that he knows it is an unworthy proposal. Rather than simply sending Californians invoices for his spending sprees, he should go about reducing the size of the California government."

An Open Letter to the People of California

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued the following open letter to the people of California:

 

December 5, 2011

 

When I became Governor again—28 years after my last term ended in 1983—California was facing a $26.6 billion budget deficit. It was the result of years of failing to match spending with tax revenues as budget gimmicks instead of honest budgeting became the norm.

 

In January, I proposed a budget that combined deep cuts with a temporary extension of some existing taxes. It was a balanced approach that would have finally closed our budget gap.

 

I asked the legislature to enact this plan and to allow you, the people of California, to vote on it. I believed that you had the right to weigh in on this important choice: should we decently fund our schools or lower our taxes? I don’t know how you would have voted, but we will never know. The Republicans refused to provide the four votes needed to put this measure on the ballot.

 

 Forced to act alone, Democrats went ahead and enacted massive cuts and the first honest, on-time budget in a decade. But without the tax extensions, it was simply not possible to eliminate the state’s structural deficit.

 

The good news is that our financial condition is much better than a year ago. We cut the ongoing budget deficit by more than half, reduced the state’s workforce by about 5,500 positions and cut unnecessary expenses like cell phones and state cars. We actually cut state expenses by over $10 billion. Spending is now at levels not seen since the seventies. Our state’s credit rating has moved from “negative” to “stable,” laying the foundation for job creation and a stronger economic recovery.

 

 Unfortunately, the deep cuts we made came at a huge cost. Schools have been hurt and state funding for our universities has been reduced by 25%. Support for the elderly and the disabled has fallen to where it was in 1983. Our courts suffered debilitating reductions.

 

The stark truth is that without new tax revenues, we will have no other choice but to make deeper and more damaging cuts to schools, universities, public safety and our courts.

 

That is why I am filing today an initiative with the Attorney General’s office that would generate nearly $7 billion in dedicated funding to protect education and public safety. I am going directly to the voters because I don’t want to get bogged down in partisan gridlock as happened this year. The stakes are too high.

 

 My proposal is straightforward and fair. It proposes a temporary tax increase on the wealthy, a modest and temporary increase in the sales tax, and guarantees that the new revenues be spent only on education. Here are the details:

 

• Millionaires and high-income earners will pay up to 2% higher income taxes for five years. No family making less than $500,000 a year will see their income taxes rise. In fact, fewer than 2% of California taxpayers will be affected by this increase.

• There will be a temporary ½ cent increase in the sales tax. Even with this temporary increase, sales taxes will still be lower than what they were less than six months ago.

• This initiative dedicates funding only to education and public safety—not on other programs that we simply cannot afford.

 

This initiative will not solve all of our fiscal problems. But it will stop further cuts to education and public safety.

 

I ask you to join with me to get our state back on track.

A PDF version of the letter can be found here.

 

Jerry Brown

ICYMI: Donnelly - State Wildfire Fee Not Legal

State Wildfire Fee ‘Not Legal’
By Mike Harris
 

Mountain property owners next year can expect to receive a $115 bill from the State of California for fire protection services after the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection last week voted for a higher fee than it had originally approved.

 

Why mountain residents should expect a $115 fee instead of a $150 fee is because the fire board agreed to offer a $35 discount to those property owners currently living in a fire district, such as San Bernardino County Fire, Running Springs Fire or Crest Forest Fire.

 

Mountain communities such as Lake Arrowhead, Crestline and Running Springs are in a State Responsibility Area (SRA).

 

After packing the California Fire Board with four of his own appointees, Gov. Jerry Brown last week was able to get the state board to approve a $150 wildfire fee for rural properties.

 

Brown expects the wildfire fee to provide the state with about $50 million annually, and would apply to around 850,000 properties located in a SRA.

 

The wildfire fee now goes to the state Board of Equalization to determine how the state will bill rural property owners.

 

But the bill mountain property owners receive could go higher than $115.

 

If a property has more than one… (Read more)

 

Source: Mountain News, via Assemblyman Tim Donnely website newsroom. Photo used is in the public domain.

Governor Brown Asks CPUC to Take Action Following Legislature’s Failure to Reauthorize Public Goods Charge

SAN FRANCISCO – In a letter sent late last week, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. requested that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) take action to ensure that critical clean energy programs, like those supported by the Public Goods Charge, are instituted.

The full text of Governor Brown’s letter is copied below:

Dear Commissioner Peevey:

Earlier this month, the Legislature failed to reauthorize the Public Goods Charge which supports many important efficiency and clean energy programs. In light of this failure, I request that you take action under the Commission’s authority to ensure that programs like those supported by the Public Goods Charge are instituted—and hopefully at their current levels.

As the Commission goes forward, please take into account the constructive ideas for program reform that were identified during the legislative process as well as ways to create jobs swiftly though investment in energy savings retrofits.

We cannot afford to let any of these job-creating programs lapse.

Sincerely,

Edmund G. Brown Jr.

CRP Chairman's Statement Regarding Obama's $1.5 Trillion Tax Hike

SACRAMENTO, CA – CRP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro today issued the following statement regarding the President’s latest tax hike proposal on job creators:

"Obama still doesn't understand that the key to increasing revenues is through growing the economy. His program of higher regulations and taxes increases economic risk, reduces economic growth and therefore decreases revenues. Republicans certainly support corporate tax code simplification accompanied by lower rates.  The only question is why Obama doesn't apply that same reasoning to the personal income tax code."

Source: CA GOP

Statement of CA Democratic Chairman on Congressional Republicans’ Reaction to President Obama’s Millionaire Tax Proposal

Congressman Paul Ryan and the Congressional Republicans have predictably taken to accusing President Obama of "class warfare" after he dared to propose that millionaires and billionaires pay the same taxes as middle class Americans.

The real class warfare is already being waged by Republicans on the elderly, the poor, the disabled, the sick, the blind and anyone else who can't afford a good lobbyist to protect their interests.

Republicans openly and shamelessly call for cuts to Social Security and Medicare in order to continue tax breaks and loopholes for millionaires and billionaires. We cannot afford to continue handouts to the super rich while asking for everyone else to do more with less.

In the GOP's world when the President calls for the super rich to pay their fair share, it's class warfare; when services are cut for the elderly, for students, the middle class, the poor, the disabled, and the sick, it's sound fiscal policy.

CRP Chairman's Statement Regarding California's Dismal Unemployment Numbers

SACRAMENTO, CA – CRP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro today issued the following statement in regards to today's release of California's unemployment numbers for August rising to 12.1%:

"Almost ten months into Jerry Brown's administration and Californians still don't know what his jobs plan really is, other than reaching into their pockets for new tax money. Republicans know what job creators need to start hiring again and when Jerry finally gets serious, we'll be there, ready to work with him on real solutions."

Source: CA GOP

CRP Statement Regarding Gov. Brown's Unfair Accusation

SACRAMENTO, CA – CRP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro today issued the following statement in regards to an accusation Governor Jerry Brown made about Republican lawmakers to a California Nurses Association meeting in San Francisco yesterday:

"Last night, Jerry Brown went to a union event to proclaim that Republicans are controlled by a third party.  That is a shameful comment made by the most politically beholden governor in America.  Since taking office, Brown has refused to cut back government in any meaningful fashion for fear of unions at the same time that he demands Californians cut back their lifestyles in the form of higher taxes.  His comment would be laughable if the negative effect of government polices on Californians wasn't so serious."

Source: CA GOP

CRP Statement in Response to Governor Jerry Brown's "Jobs Plan"

SACRAMENTO, CA – CRP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro issued the following statement regarding Governor Jerry Brown’s "job’s plan":

"In violation of his pledge of 'no new taxes without voter approval,' Jerry Brown is proposing tax increases at the same time that he is proposing tax breaks. With one hand he proposes to hit businesses with a stick for doing business in this state and with the other hand offers a carrot.  If tax and regulatory decreases work for some they will work for all. Instead of leading the national recovery, we're holding it back and the clock is ticking. Two million Californians remain out of work but Democrats keep fiddling with mixed messages and tax increases while California burns."