Tax Receipts Down in October But That Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Bigger Budget Cuts

California’s cash collections for October were $608 million below the budget’s forecast of $5.8 billion leaving the state $1.3 billion below its revenue targets for the first four months of the current fiscal year.

As part of the budget signed by Gov. Jerry Brown June 30, a series of up to $2.5 billion in cuts – nearly $1.8 billion falling on public schools — will automatically be triggered if revenues for the entire fiscal year are more than $3 billion below budget estimates.    Read more »

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The Tax System Explained Through Beer

 (Editor’s Note: A long-time pal suggests this would be a worthy topic on Capitol Weekly’s “Politics on Tap,” as well.)

Every day, 10 men go out for beer. The bill for all 10 is comes $100. 

If they paid their bill the way Americans pay taxes, the first four men — the poorest — would pay nothing.     Read more »

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Felix Dies Natalis, Josiah

November 20 is the 156th anniversary of the birth of Josiah Royce, world famous philosopher and Grass Valley native.

He was the “leading American proponent of absolute idealism, the metaphysical view that all aspects of reality, including those we experience as disconnected or contradictory, are ultimately unified in the thought of a single all-encompassing consciousness,” according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.    Read more »

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Today’s Latin Lesson Is How the Senate Rules Committee Meets in Executive Session

Januis Clausis

“In Secret”

(Literally: “With Closed Doors”)    Read more »

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These Might Be Hard to Use During Testimony

Patzer

Merriam-Webster: An inept chess player.

***** 

Pomerium

Merriam-Webster: A narrow strip of land marked off around an ancient Roman town or city and held sacred.

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Pyx

Merriam-Webster: 1. A container in which the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is kept. 2. Used in a mint for deposit of sample coins reserved for testing weight and fineness.    Read more »

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More on Upton Sinclair and his 1934 End Poverty in California Campaign    Read more »

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Learn More About Upton Sinclair’s Quest to End Poverty In California He Lost the Governor’s Race But Changed Golden State Politics Forever    Read more »

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Happy Birthday Governor Olson!

November 7 is the 135th anniversary of the birth of Culbert Levy Olson, California’s 29th governor from 1939 to 1943.

A supporter of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California, Olson advanced a progressive agenda including mandatory health insurance. The health insurance measure was rejected by the more centrist Legislature along with Olson’s proposals to raise taxes, regulate lobbyists and make the state’s prison system more humane.    Read more »

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Happy Birthday to a Man Whose Humor And Compassion Moved a Nation — Still Funny After All These Years

November 4 is the 132nd anniversary of the birth of Will Rogers, the lariat-twirling cowboy poet and humorist.

Vaudeville star, actor, syndicated columnist, radio personality, stand-up comic and humanitarian, Rogers was an American original.

His folksy political humor is as funny – and true – today as it was 80 years ago.    Read more »

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Pull!

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Hesperia Repoublican, founded the largest Minuteman chapter in California in 2005, his official biography says. He “answered the call of his country and joined the fight to secure our borders,” is how the bio puts it.

Donnelly was a strong opponent of the so-called “Dream Act,” a largely symbolic measure signed by Gov.    Read more »

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