Former Chief Justice Roger Traynor, Tax Expert

Roger Traynor, chief justice of the California Supreme Court from 1964 to 1970, is one of the 10 2011 inductees to the California Museum’s Hall of Fame.

Traynor served on the state high court for 30 years, earning national respect.

A law and political science professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Traynor inaugurated Boalt Hall’s first course in taxation. Read more »

12.07.2011

Don’t Tax Me, Tax The Rich Guy Behind the Tree

A key reason for the periodic feast and famine in state income tax collections is that most of the taxes are paid by wealthy Californians.

In the 2008 tax year, the most recent one for which the state has complete statistics, the 118,349 Californians with income of $500,000 or more contributed $16.9 billion — almost 41 percent of the $41.7 billion collected. Read more »

12.06.2011

New “Citizens Council” Would Right California’s Wrongs, Group Says

The 16-member Think Long Committee thinks a 13-member “citizens council” will improve the lives of California’s 37.5 million residents by ensuring better performance from state and local government.

An initiative to create this council will be placed on the ballot, Think Long pledges in its 24-page Blueprint to Renew California, which contains a number of suggestions purporting to make the Golden State even more golden, including lowering income taxes and tacking sales tax onto services like dry cleaning, accounting and advertising. Read more »

12.06.2011

California’s Population Grows a Bit to 37.5 Million

California’s population grew less than one percent between July 1, 2010 and July 1, 2011 to total more than 37.5 million persons, according to official population estimates released today by Gov. Jerry Brown’s Department of Finance.

This represents 260,000 new residents during the fiscal year and continues the pattern of modest growth rates over the past few years. Read more »

12.05.2011

Gov. Jerry Brown Weighs In on Raising Taxes, Targets the Wealthiest, Temporarily

An 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. Read more »

12.02.2011