It has been over a month since the constitutional deadline passed to approve a new budget and members of the Legislature have gone on vacation. While state representatives have decided they would rather go to the beach than wrestle with the state budget crisis, California families are not having nearly as much fun.  Read more >>

Last month I was invited to address a joint tax committee of the Utah Legislature to discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of various methods of taxing real property. Specifically, Utah is considering adopting an "acquisition value" based system -- such as Proposition 13 -- to replace its traditional "current value" system that taxes property based on what it is worth now rather than the purchase price.  Read more >>

Last week we released our fifth annual California Piglet Book. This 35-page booklet carefully scrutinizes dozens of examples of waste, fraud, and abuse that occurred in California state and local government.  Read more >>

As a state, California ranks 8th in per capita state and local taxation. Some politicians may counter that we are "only" 12th when our tax burden is measured as a percentage of personal income, but either way, we are running near the front of the pack in a 50 team league.  Read more >>