Dan Walters

During his first stint as governor four decades ago, Jerry Brown exhibited a willingness to change his mind – or at least his position – on issues large and small at the drop of a hat. He implied that the trait was a virtue and evidence of a superior intellect, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson’s aphorism, […]

California was in a bragging mode last week because the state’s economy has climbed in global rankings to 5th place behind only the United States as whole, China, Japan and Germany. It’s a remarkable factoid, certainly, that one American state generated so much economic production – $2.7 trillion last year – that it could rank […]

It’s time for some fun with numbers, dissecting a new state report on population trends. The big number is 39.8 million. That’s the state Department of Finance’s latest calculation of California’s population as of Jan. 1. It’s doubtless a little low, since California has a very large number of residents who fly below the official […]

Sales taxes, once the primary source of revenue for the state budget, now play second fiddle to income taxes. That said, sales taxes are still very important to local governments, particularly cities, and often affect local land use decisions – favoring tax-generating retail business over housing, for instance. However, consumer trends are changing, radically affecting […]

It’s a game of three-cushion billiards, being played not in a dingy pool hall but in Donald Trump’s Washington, Jerry Brown’s Sacramento and in the executive suites of major automakers. Trump’s administration, answering pleas of auto executives, wants to roll back more stringent fuel efficiency standards promulgated during the final days of the predecessor Obama […]

We may assume that voters make their choices after carefully studying candidates and their positions on issues. That assumption lies at the heart of earnest efforts in news media and elsewhere to provide voters with as much objective information as possible. However, we also know that voters often make snap judgments based on ideological predispositions […]

California’s perennial debate over taxation is showing up in ballot measures placed before voters.

The death of recent housing legislation crystallized a conflict that’s been simmering in California for decades.

Gov. Jerry Brown regularly warns that California is overdue for an economic downturn that could devastate tax revenues. Even a moderate recession, his administration projects, could cost the state $60 billion in lower revenues over three years, underscoring the need to build a hefty reserve as a cushion. Brown’s “rainy day fund” tops out at […]

The California Legislature, as noted in this space previously, has a shameful history of exempting itself from the countless laws it imposes on everyone else. Last week, the Assembly’s Public Employment, Retirement and Social Security Committee had a golden opportunity to close one of the Capitol’s many hypocritical loopholes. But, true to historic form, its […]