"Where all the children are above average…" - Garrison Keillor

When is a fee a tax?

Proposition 26 on the November ballot attempts to answer that question. Opponents say the business, anti-tax group backed measure defines a "fee" too narrowly and that doing so will cost the state at least $1 billion in revenue.

California’s public transportation system has made for ripe comedic fodder for many years. Particularly in Southern California, the transit system is a joke on wheels. Over the last year, however, state leaders have been working to obtain funding for a high speed rail project to run the length of the state.

"Well now it's just gotten silly" - John Cleese, in Monty Python

If Democrats lose seats as expected in this year's Senate and House elections, they will have earned it. And the blame lies squarely on the President's shoulders. Barack Obama came to office determined to be a new Lincoln. What I believe we needed was a new FDR.

Philadelphia officials set a disturbing precedent when they recently sent out demand letters to local bloggers and website operators to pay a business licensing fee and fork over a portion of their nonsalaried income, or face stiff penalties. Will other cash-strapped cities follow Philadelphia's lead and tax bloggers as business owners? 

The Golden State's July 2010 unemployment numbers came out in a report by California's Employment Development Department Friday, and they don't look good.