Posted on 03/20/2013 9:33:00 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot
In his State of the State address in January, Gov. Jerry Brown proudly proclaimed that, “Two years ago, they were writing our obituary. Well it didn’t happen. California is back, its budget is balanced, and we are on the move.”
…Which is interesting, because the January unemployment numbers just came in, and California is apparently competing with Rhode Island for the worst state unemployment rate in the country.
(SNIP) .... the wealthy coasts and the tech industry are helping to keep everything propped up — but it seems that the progressive state just can’t resist taking a little off the top wherever possible.
"California’s top-end taxpayers — already steamed over a recent hike in the nation’s highest state income tax — are now fuming over a new $120 million retroactive tax grab on small business owners.
In December, the state’s tax authority determined that a tax break claimed over the past few years by 2,500 entrepreneurs and stockholders of California-based small businesses is no longer valid and sent out notices of payment.
“How would you feel if you made a decision, which was made four years ago, (and) you absolutely knew was legally correct and four years later a governing body came in and said, ‘no, it’s not correct, now you owe us a bunch more money. And we’re going to charge you interest on money you didn’t even know you owed’,” Brian Overstreet told Fox News from his office north of San Francisco. …
“Once the revenue is identified, those folks up in Sacramento will figure out how to spend it already,” warns former state Sen. George Runner. “And that’s what makes this so difficult. Even though it has this great bipartisan support as being wrong.” …"
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Well, there’s always Texas.
But CA will just charge you (even after your move) for their trouble.
retroactive == not legal. it just isn’t.
Dems “Laws, we do not need no stinkin laws”
That or a complete state bust.
There are illegal aliens to pay for, lifetime union pensions for make-work jobs and environmental/trains to nowhere to pay for...Moonbeam is just doing his normal Marxist two-step.
Can’t wait to hear of California trying to assess this retroactive tax on all of the business that have left California in the past couple years. It’ll be interesting to see how many states and counties go ballistic (pun intended) when armed CA Franchise Tax Board agents come after people in their jurisdictions to demand payments.
“Well, there’s always Texas”
Good God no. We don’t want anymore CaliComs heading our way. The limp-wristed twits keep voting for this stuff now they need to live with it. Pisses me off to no end.
Screw the Rio Grande, we need a fence along the New Mexico border with fighter patrols.
“retroactive == not legal. it just isn’t.”
In all seriousness, there’s legal and then there’s what you can get away with. I worked at Honeywell in the ‘80’s. The GAO sent an audit team consisting of at least 20 people. They spent a year trying to prove fraud and abuse. The only thing they could come up with was a memo signed by a newly appointed VP who authorized funding to continue on the previous charge number when that number ran out. It turns out that it was technically not legal. But he was new and his advisors handed it to him to sign. There was no intent to defraud. The GAO had to justify their effort and tried to make that into a multi-million dollar fine. They threatened to prosecute the VP and send him to jail. Honeywell negotiated it down to a few hundred thousand dollars. Honeywell could have fought it, but “build a golden bridge for your enemy to retreat across.” (I was friends with the VP’s son and they spent a tense six months while the GAO progressively threatened to have him arrested and put in jail to await trial, etc.) The takeaway from this is that government is another form of coercion. They want money, they confiscate it. Usually, they try to find a “legal” reason, but not always. Often, they find a way that works and nobody can fight.
” The takeaway from this is that government is another form of coercion.”
So, basically reinforcing somethign that we already knew. It’s like the Bambino family but with more firepower.
>>> It’s like the Bambino family but with more firepower.
More, they have the legal fig leaf.
-PJ
Jerry Brown is a liar. The California budget is not balanced. He says it is balanced because he is deliberately not counting billions that needs to be paid for unfunded pension liabilities. The Proposition 30 tax money has already been squandered. Another budget crisis this summer is just as sure as tomorrow’s sunrise.
It has been done before. Last time Alaska jumped up their oil tax rate they made it retroactive.
See Cyrprus as an example. The government of Cyprus and the EU banks couldn’t pull it off, maybe they should of used mexifornia as a test case example. The government of california is safe because they have a disarmed, compliant, and cowed populace, along with a heavily armed illegal alien enforcement army at their disposal. And here everyone thought california was still part of the US. The mexicans say jump, and california says “ole!”.
There are so many ways our states and feds can $crew us.
In California, the left wingers in control of the capitol are trying to enforce back taxes on tech start up investors.
Not only are they after the so called back taxes, they want penalties for late payments for past refunds:
“Engineers and hackers don’t think much about tax policy, but there’s a bizarre development in California that they should know about, since it could reduce the pool of angel-investment money available for tech startups. Under a tax break available since the 1990s, startup founders and other investors in California were allowed to exclude or defer their gains when they sold stock in California-based small businesses. Last year, a California appeals court ruled that the tax break was unconstitutional, since it discriminated against investors in out-of-state companies. Now the Franchise Tax Board, California’s version of the IRS, has issued a notice saying how it intends to implement the ruling — and it’s a doozie. Not only is the tax break gone, but anyone who claimed an exclusion or deferral on the sale of small-business stock since 2008 is about to get a big retroactive tax bill. Investors, entrepreneurs, and even the plaintiffs in the original lawsuit are up in arms about the FTB’s notice, saying that it goes beyond the court’s intent and that it will drive investors out of the state. This Xconomy article takes an in-depth look at the history of the court case, the FTB’s ruling, and the reaction in the technology and investing communities.”
“...when armed CA Franchise Tax Board agents come after people in their jurisdictions to demand payments.”
As a Californian, I hope that if they ever try that, that the people of the state on which they intrude shoots them dead!
“The government of california is safe because they have a disarmed, compliant, and cowed populace, along with a heavily armed illegal alien enforcement army at their disposal.”
That is simply not true!. Californians purchased over 600,000 guns last year. And FWIW I just bought two more handguns. Furthermore, in more than half of the counties, you can get a CCW permit for the asking. Again, the problem is with the big population centers and the morons that purport themselves to be LEO’s in those places, but in reality are simply political hacks. Could things be better, sure, but they are not as you describe.
“...California is back, its budget is balanced, and we are on the move.”
Is the California budget balanced? Really?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/18/gov-brown-uses-tricks-to-balance-ca-budget
Google “Gilbert Hyatt”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.