San Jose Mercury News

Illegal Crossings Are Down, But Not Because of Border Fence

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:48:00 -0400

Border Patrol apprehensions may have dipped to the lowest rate in 35 years, but it has nothing to do with border security. Rates of illegal migration are governed by social and economic forces, not by expensive surveillance technology, walls and the Border Patrol. It thus makes no sense to continue to rely on an expensive and failed border fortification as a centerpiece of our immigration policy.

In the Sleazy World of Political Sex Scandals, Not All Are Created Equal | San Jose Mercury News

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:59:00 -0400

"It's all about expectations," said Gregory Rodriguez, senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. "The fortunes of any given candidate really depend on our expectations of that person at any given moment and on the candidate's own rhetoric and sense of righteousness."

San Jose Considers Major Change to Local Elections | San Jose Mercury News

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:53:00 -0400

"I think it's the right choice for us," said Councilman Sam Liccardo at a Thursday forum sponsored by the New America Foundation and Common Cause. "The question is how we get there." Original article

A Cheaper, Quicker, More Civil Way to Run San Jose Elections: Instant Runoffs

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:24:00 -0500

Madison Nguyen shouldn't be the only one breathing a sigh a relief.

When San Jose District 7 voters rejected a recall of the city councilwoman Tuesday, they spared the entire city the cost of holding two additional special elections.

Now's the Time to Think of Ideas for a New State Government System

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:23:00 -0500

Deep in the doldrums of California's economic woes, with state government unable to pass a budget, Bay Area business leaders have proposed a constitutional convention. Since this could open Pandora's box, a crucial question remains unanswered: Who will wrestle with the demons that come out of the box and lead our state to a better tomorrow? Who are California's James Madisons and Thomas Jeffersons, our Ben Franklins and George Washingtons?

Chinese-American Activists Oppose Any Bill Richardson Cabinet | San Jose Mercury News

Communications — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:19:00 -0500

Gregory Rodriguez, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, said the controversy shows that all the talk about a "post-racial America'' is overblown. ...

Changes in Attitudes Toward Race Change Slowly Despite Obama

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:27:00 -0500

Now that we've had time to let it sink in that Barack Obama will be the first African-American president, it's time to deal with the implications of this historic election for American race relations. Some observers have already hammered a marker into the road of history that designates the past as "Before Obama" and time going forward as "After Obama." As they see it, After Obama is the period when racism is no more. But they are letting the bright light of Obama's election blind them. We've got a long way to go in race relations.

Jacob Hacker in San Jose Mercury News | 'Historic Choices on Bay Area's 2008 Ballots'

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:53:00 -0400

"We've got a black man running for president and a white woman for vice president. We'll make history either way. That's exciting," said Dan Nelson, a network specialist from Sunnyvale. But what Nelson really wants in Washington is change: "I don't like the way things are going now."

And Nelson felt that way even before the economic and political meltdowns of the past few weeks. They have created "a very dramatic shock to the electoral process," said Jacob Hacker, political science professor at the University of California-Berkeley. There's been nothing as climactic in the final months of a presidential race since the pall cast over the 1980 election by the American hostage situation in Iran, leading to Ronald Reagan's victory over Jimmy Carter, he added. LINK

Joe Mathews in San Jose Mercury News | 'California Budget 101: A Guide to What's Gone Wrong in Sacramento'

Communications — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:08:00 -0400

Q Where did that two-thirds rule come from anyway?

A Ironically, the idea came from Democrats in the 1930s, according to Joe Mathews, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. After a long period in the minority, Democrats came into power and wanted some protections in case they didn't remain there. Voters passed a constitutional amendment with a number of budget reforms, including the two-thirds rule for any budget that grew by 5 percent or more. Three decades later, California voters approved a follow-up measure saying that all budgets need to be passed by two-thirds of legislators before heading to the governor's desk. LINK

Taxing Some Services Could Help if It's Fair and Simple

Ron Tang — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:39:00 -0400

California State Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu believes it is time to address our deficit and modernize our sales tax by applying it to services. Her call to modernize our sales tax would be a good start in addressing an underlying cause of our budget problems.

Taxing services is not an outlandish idea. Most states already tax more types of services than does California.

Taxing services is also not a bad idea. Lifestyle changes have led us to spend less on goods subject to California sales tax and more on non-taxable services. For example, two-earner households have greater needs for laundry and child care services. They also have more money to pay for non-taxable entertainment and high-end personal services. This change has eroded our tax base and is one reason for our budget problems.

We must be thoughtful in making this major change though. We don't want a rerun of the snack tax fiasco of the early 1990s. That tax was so complicated that voters not only repealed it, but also changed our constitution so we'd never again tax food.

Being thoughtful means considering three factors: fairness, simplicity and the realities of business taxation.

First is fairness. Expansion of the tax base should be accompanied by a rate reduction. Besides making the change more tolerable and the state more business friendly, it makes the sales tax fairer.

California's 7.25 percent state sales tax rate is the highest among states (and even higher in many counties). Imposed at a flat rate regardless of one's income, a sales tax is a more significant cost to low-income individuals relative to higher-income individuals. This inequity can be reduced by lowering the tax rate.

Services, particularly high-end ones like personal trainers and gardening, are purchased by high-
income individuals. A fairer system would not exempt this consumption while taxing consumption of tangible goods by lower-income individuals.

Fairness also means helping service businesses that must start collecting and remitting sales tax. The Board of Equalization should be allotted funds to help businesses get ready. These businesses should also get refundable tax credits to help cover costs of getting ready to collect the tax for the state.

Second, simplicity should be considered, particularly for small service businesses. For example, rather than monthly reporting, there should be quarterly or annual reporting. Reporting forms should also be as simple as possible.

Finally, we should avoid taxing services that are primarily used by businesses. This may seem too generous, but making businesses pay sales tax creates many problems. Any sales tax paid by a business will be factored into prices they charge for goods and services. Since those goods and services are subject to sales tax, consumers end up paying a tax on a tax. This is called pyramiding.

Pyramiding hides the true tax amount consumers pay, making the tax system less transparent. Think about it -- while food is tax-exempt in California, prices include sales tax paid by the food producers, wholesalers and retailers. We just don't see it in the price we pay.

Imposing sales tax on businesses can affect operational decisions. For example, taxing services may lead larger businesses to provide more services in-house rather than hiring service businesses. This also raises a fairness issue for small businesses that must continue to rely on taxable outsourcing.

To avoid pyramiding, services primarily used by businesses, such as consulting, should remain non-taxable. This also simplifies the system. For example, if a California business hires an advertising firm with employees in California and Nevada to prepare ads to run in 10 different states, how much of the fee should be subject to California sales tax? In 1987, this type of issue led to the repeal of a services tax in Florida after only six months.

So, let's address budget problems caused by an eroding sales tax base by taxing personal services. Accompanied by a rate reduction and simplification efforts, we'll also improve our overall tax system and help bring it into the 21st century.