TSA: Security Fails to spot nuke at Logan

GOPAC Chair: "If The Bill Is So Good, Why Does Everyone Need An Exemption In Order To Vote For It?"

Calif. AG candidate's oil severance tax bill clears committee

 

BY CHRIS RIZO

Alberto Torrico (D)	Pedro Nava (D)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-A proposal by a Democratic candidate for California attorney general that would raise money for California college classrooms by taxing energy producers on Monday cleared its first legislative hurdle.
The $1.3 billion plan by state Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico seeks to enact a 12.5 percent severance tax on the gross value of the oil and natural gas that producers take from the Golden State's lands and sea beds.
The severance tax, the Fremont Democrat said, is similar to what is levied by other oil-producing states, including Texas and Louisiana.
"The other states seem to recognize that the oil is a natural resource that belongs to the state and the people of that state, and shouldn't be given away for free. So, this bill says to oil companies no more free ride," Torrico said Monday.
A candidate for state attorney general, Torrico wants the revenue to go to classroom instruction at the state's colleges and universities, as a way to overcome recent budget cuts and tuition increases.
The Fair Share for Fair Tuition bill is outlined in Assembly Bill 656. The proposal was approved on a party-line vote by the Democratic-led Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, chaired by state Assemblyman Ron Calderon, D-Montebello.
A competing bill, by fellow Democratic AG candidate Assemblyman Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara, would impose a 10 percent oil extraction tax that would flow into the state's general fund.
In 2006, California voters handily rejected the idea of an oil severance tax. Proposition 87 was opposed by nearly 55 percent of statewide voters.
Under Torrico's proposal, as currently written, government entities would be exempt from the severance tax.
Also exempt from the severance tax would be oil or gas produced by a stripper well that is incapable of producing an average of more than 10 barrels of oil per day during the entire taxable month.
Companies subject to the 12.5 percent severance tax would be prohibited from passing on the tax increase to consumers - or risk investigation by the state attorney general's office.
Torrico has pointed to profits that major oil companies have made in recent years, saying the tax would not hurt their bottom lines, but the wider economic effects of an oil severance tax could be widespread, according to a study by Law and Economics Consulting Group, a respected global consulting firm based in Emeryville, Calif.
The LECG report, released a year ago, estimated that the oil producers' tax could, among other things, cause steep declines in the state's oil and natural gas production and the loss of nearly 9,900 jobs.
"California's oil production is already among the most heavily taxed in the country. This new oil tax would make California's combined taxes on petroleum the highest in the nation by far," the LECG report said.
To pass, the bill will require a two-thirds vote in both houses, meaning that some Republican support would be needed in the Assembly and state Senate, where Democrats have hefty majorities. Passage could be difficult since most Republican legislators have taken strong stands against raising taxes and fees to help raise revenue.
In an earlier interview, the chief executive officer of the California Independent Petroleum Association, Rock Zierman, said oil companies are paying their fair share for the nearly 216 million barrels of crude they extract from California.
Energy producers essentially already pay a pre-severance tax on the oil while it is in the ground, plus the industry pays a high corporate income tax rate a high sales tax rate on its equipment, he said.
"We pay as much, if not more, than other oil-producing states," he said, disputing a claim that California is letting revenues slip away while other states collect a severance tax.
From Legal Newsline: Reach staff reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com

Democrats

IRS Agents Blue Humor

IRS Agents

At the end of the tax year, the IRS office sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the IRS agent was checking the books he turned to the CFO of the hospital and said, "I notice you buy a  lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?"

"Good question," noted the CFO. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every now and then they send us a free box of bandages."

"Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way.

"What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?"

"Ah, yes," replied the CFO, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer, and every now and then they send us a free package of plaster."

"I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all CFO. "Well," he went on, "What do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?"

"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the CFO. "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the IRS Office, and about once a year they send us a complete dick."

Pray for the people of Haiti

We need to take a moment from our day and take the time to say a prayer for the people of Haiti.
This is a country of abject poverty and government corruption they will need the hand of God to recover.

Paycheck Protection Measure is Back

January 13, 2010, 09:17 AM
In California, if you work for government or schools, most workers pay bribes to unions in order to be allowed to work.
Then the unions take your bribe money and "donate" to politicians to take over city councils,  school boards and the legislature.  You have no choice.  Want to work?  Pay the bribes (unions call them"dues") and your money will be used to elect people who will raise your taxes--so you lose your money to bribes AND to taxes.
Thomas Jefferson said, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical."
For the third time, the people of California will have the chance to make the unions honest.  We need to protect the paychecks of the workers, not the luxuries and radical policies of the unionists.
Bottom line:  Do you support the rights of the workers to keep the money they earn or do you support the right of unions to keep people from working if they do not pay a bribe?
Read More...

Health Care