Politics, Society

California Moves To Force Businesses To Give Half Of Tax Cut To The State

imagesOne of the elements to the recent tax bill that drew considerable opposition was the move to a neutral tax system that no longer allowed for the writing off of state taxes.  However, there is a valid argument for such an approach since many citizens in low tax states do not benefit to the same degree.  Indeed, those taxpayers have complained that they are effectively subsidizing taxpayers in states like New York and California even though they often make considerably less.  I have come to support the approach for a different reason. It forces local politicians to bear the true costs of tax hikes since they can no longer dismiss objections by saying that their increases will simply be recovered as a deduction on federal taxes.  Now, however, California legislators have pushed legislation to force businesses to give back half of their federal tax savings.

Assemblymen Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) and Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) are seeking to create a tax surcharge on California companies making more than $1 million to capture half of the federal tax savings.  They notably are not attempting to do the same for citizens.

 

I am admittedly a critic of high tax approaches in states like New York, Illinois and California, I still view this as better than the older system where politicians could pretend that tax increases were some type of funny money that did not really count.  Now at least California is imposing this tax directly.  If businesses are tired of the hikes, they can move to lower tax states or they can accept the tax increases as part of maintaining a high quality of life in the state.
As a constitutional amendment, the bill would require approval from two-thirds of the Legislature to pass, a difficult hurdle now that Democrats have lost their supermajority. If passed and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, it would then go to voters for final approval.

Democrats lost their supermajority following resignations of two Assembly Democrats, Matt Dababneh of Encino (Los Angeles County), and Raul Bocanegra of San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County) amid sexual misconduct allegations. Another Assembly Democrat, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas of Los Angeles, resigned citing health issues. In the Senate, Democrat Tony Mendoza of Artesia (Los Angeles County) is taking a leave of absence pending an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations.

 California Democrats have been exploring ways to help those in the state who could end up paying higher federal taxes next year under the Republican tax overhaul.

The GOP overhaul caps state income taxes and local property tax write-offs on the federal income tax return at $10,000, a move expected to hurt high-local-tax states such as California, where the average state and local tax write-off in 2016 was $22,000.

State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León introduced legislation this month that would allow Californians to get around the state and local tax cap with a voluntary donation to a charitable fund created by the state of any amount of owed taxes above $10,000. That donation — in lieu of taxes — would allow donors to write off the gifts on their federal tax returns.

100 thoughts on “California Moves To Force Businesses To Give Half Of Tax Cut To The State”

  1. “If businesses are tired of the hikes, they can move to lower tax states or they can accept the tax increases as part of maintaining a high quality of life in the state.”

    Not all businesses are mobile. Some depend on clientele built up through blood, sweat, and tears over many years. They cannot simply move and start again from scratch.

    That is why some businesses are trapped in CA. The ones who can move, do move. Even Hollywood doesn’t film in CA like it used to. Unless it’s porn, most movies are filmed out of state now. This is true of feature films and TV shows.

    And yet, there are still politicians, and even voter, who will claim that high taxes does not change behavior, without a shred of irony.

  3. As a 59 year California native, I’ve watched this once great state rapidly decline to one of the least free states in the Union. State employee pensions, socialistic medical and welfare programs and a greater concern to care for those here illegally instead of the legal citizens have driven the leftists in the California congress to find any and every way possible to keep raising taxes. Last week in an interview on local new KUSI, the new California Congress whip Todd Gloria (unfortunately from my neck of the woods) feebly tried to explain that the newest gas tax (which also includes a higher vehicle registration fee) was just another in a long line of recent tax increases needed to improve California infrastructure and, therefore, entice companies to move thier operations to the Golden State. Well, Todd, I can’t wait to hear your lame explanation for THIS new tax move. I’m sure tons of out-of-state corps are lining up to move here so they can pay higher taxes as well! Just wondering how long it’s going to take before the Ca congress changes the state name from California to Communistfornia,

    1. There is no reason to leave CA such a huge state. It is a tail of two cities – the rural conservative folk, and the Liberal urbanites. I think it should divide into 3. North CA, Central CA, and Southern CA.

  5. Uhhh… Cans use tells mees what dat GDP stands fo? Gay Dainty Pigs? Good Dude to Pork? Geriatric Democrats is Goofy? Great Dam Pot? Got Duh Pee? Got Dam Prius? Going Duh Prison? Good Deplorable People? Goin Deep Paul? Dam, whut is GDP?

  6. I understand that you types don’t really have objective sources of information, so I will assist here. California has by far the highest GDP of any of the states, and would be approximately 7th or 8th highest in the world if it were a country. They don’t tell you that on Pravda Faux News when they’re firing up the hillbillies about how superior they are to Cali, do they?

      1. California has a population that’s at least 11 million larger than the next largest state.
        It’s population is about 12% of the total U.S. population, and California’s GDP is also about 12% of the total U.S. GDP.
        Just as Colorado’s GDP is far larger than Wyoming, it’s not a big surprise that larger states have larger economies.

      2. Los Angeles alone pays $100 million annually for the homeless they have lured to the state.

        Yep, fantastic place to live. Shall they put Hepatitis into the CA tourism commercials?

        The enormous high cost of living eats away at the GDP. A million dollar house in Marin County, for example, is typically a tiny 1940s bungalow fixer upper. Therefore, the average salary in those high cost of living cities is far higher than, say, North Dakota. But the quality of life is low because you have to fight traffic for hours to get to work, and slave away just to barely make ends meet.

        CA is also absolutely huge, bigger than many countries. Much of that GDP is driven by Silicon Valley, and the Hollywood studios, even though they do film elsewhere now. If Silicon Valley ever folded, the state would spiral into crisis even faster than it is already.

        https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/10/heres-how-big-californias-economy-really-is/

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