Free Republic

A California city voted Tuesday night to require gun owners to carry liability insurance in what’s believed to be the first measure of its kind in the United States. The San Jose City Council overwhelmingly approved the measure despite opposition from gun owners who said it would violate their Second Amendment rights and promised to sue. The Silicon Valley city of about 1 million followed a trend of other Democratic-led cities that have sought to rein in violence through stricter rules. But while similar laws have been proposed, San Jose is the first city to pass one, according to Brady...

Despite tax collection increasing by 50 percent in the last 9 years, California’s public pension insolvency is forcing Gov. Jerry Brown to propose a dangerously unpopular 42 percent increase in gasoline taxes and a 141 percent increase in vehicle registration fees. Breitbart News reported on January 9 that Gov. Brown announced that for the first time since 2012, California’s $122.8 billion General Fund Budget is in deficit by $1.6 billion. Despite a near bankruptcy during the financial crisis, California’s tax revenues have increased by about $43 billion in the last 9 years. Brown on Monday only suggested relatively painless spending...

In reverse order of probability: (5) oil severance tax, (4) Sales tax on services, (3) split property tax rolls (separate rates for homeowners than businesses), (2) cigarette tax, (1) Extension of Prop30.

California’s inhospitable tax policies may have struck again, this time costing Los Angeles one of its largest employers. According to multiple sources close to the situation, Toyota will be relocating its US headquarters from the LA suburb of Torrance to Plano, Texas. The company has yet to notify its employees of the news, but is expected to do so Monday, followed by a public announcement. While it’s unlikely that Toyota, which is ranked 8th on Fortune’s Global 500, will directly cite taxes as the reason for its relocation, it should come as little surprise that the financial burden of operating...

Mickelson expects to make 'drastic' changes LA QUINTA — San Diego professional golfer Phil Mickelson said after the final round of the PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge on Sunday that he will have to make “drastic changes” in his life because of the federal and state taxes he is paying, and he confirmed that his decision to not buy an interest in the Padres was directly related to his financial situation. "I'll probably talk more in depth next week (at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines). I'm not going to jump the gun,” Mickelson said. “There are going to be...

When Jerry Brown goes into his bunker – or monk's cell or man-cave – and issues cryptic messages, you know he's up to something. California's governor did it again last weekend during a brief appearance before a state Democratic convention in San Diego. He could have used his time to give Democratic activists a compelling argument why they should get behind his plan to raise Californians' taxes to balance the state budget – the plan that he's been trumpeting day and night, publicly and privately, for weeks. Instead, he barely mentioned taxes, saying, "Look, we've got some issues. We've got...

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed dismantling California’s Proposition 13, which helped begin a nationwide anti-tax movement, in favor of a “grand bargain” that would boost levies on business property. The Democrat who leads California’s largest city called on Governor Jerry Brown not to shrink from making sweeping changes in state tax laws that Villaraigosa, 58, said could produce as much as $36 billion a year in new revenue. Villaraigosa urged the removal of Proposition 13’s limits on commercial-property assessments while retaining its cap for homes. The mayor said boosting tax revenue in the most-populous state...

Tuesday's slash-and-burn special election was a spin doctor's delight. State lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked voters to pass one of the most convoluted ballot packages in California history, an amalgam of controversial policies for the right and the left to pick over. Fiscal conservatives and businesses said voters demonstrated they hate taxes. Social service advocates and labor unions said voters rejected spending cuts. Even recreational marijuana supporters had a take. The Marijuana Policy Project said voters showed they want novel revenue solutions, like legalizing and taxing pot. "These measures will end up being a $25 million Rorschach test," said...

2009 Taxpayer Tea Party proudly brought to you by the FreedomWorks Foundation... Taxed to death and living in Southwest Riverside County, CA? Join us on Wednseday, April 15, 2009 at 11:00 am at the Temecula Duck Pond on the corner of Rancho California and Ynez Road in Temecula. We will be ridding ourselves of some crates of Obama Messianic Tea and fighting off the evil ravenous Zombama, the tax eating zombie. This Temecula Tea Party is valiantly supported by the local Republican clubs TMVRWF and MTRA. See you all there patriots!

Taxed to death? Join us on Wednseday, April 15, 2009 at 11:00 am at the Temecula Duck Pond on the corner of Rancho California and Ynez Road. We will be shredding 1040 forms, ridding ourselves of some crates of Obama Messianic Tea, and fighting off the evil ravenous Zombama, the tax eating zombie. See you all there patriots!

A former state legislator is reviving the old debate that two Californias are more easily governed than one. Conservative Republican Bill Maze is harnessing the ire of San Joaquin Valley farmers and others as he stumps for splitting the 13 coastal counties stretching from Los Angeles to Marin from California's other 45. To that end, he is selling sponsorships in his nonprofit California Farming Industries.

...on Wednesday, Senate GOP leader Dave Codgill gave the strongest public word yet that a budget deal has been struck "My deal, one more time, has always been that I would try my best to get it to a position where I felt it was as good as I could get and I was willing to release my members," Cogdill said ... "That's where I am. So I'm not guaranteeing any votes; it's up to them (his members) to make that decision." "But I've negotiated it to the point where I think it doesn't get any better," Cogdill said.

Forget Illinois: California is poised to be the top dog in Obama-era Washington. With roughly a half-dozen Cabinet and key administrative appointees and a powerhouse congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, California is shaping up to be the new Texas, the alpha state whose cultural and policymaking influence was inescapable through most of the last eight years. President-elect Barack Obama’s energy secretary-designate is Steven Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Hilda L. Solis, a Los Angeles-area Democratic congresswoman, was named last week as Obama’s choice for secretary of...