In summary

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Will the one-percenters flee California’s high taxes?

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blames a shortfall in state income tax revenues on the flight of rich taxpayers to Florida because federal tax laws no longer allow them to write off state and local taxes. What about California?

Weak authority undermines Sacramento Mayor’s agenda

Darrell Steinberg has an ambitious agenda as mayor of Sacramento, but as he works on it, he must deal with the fact that he has little executive authority.

So far, prison inmate rehab isn’t working

California’s prisons are supposed to be rehabilitating inmates, not merely warehousing them, but a new report from the state auditor says it’s not effectively reducing recidivism among those released from the system.

Could California pension system be underwater?

The gap between the assets of the California Public Employees Retirement System and its liabilities for pension payments has widened again, and a new Federal Reserve calculation indicates that it may much wider.

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Dan Walters has been a journalist for more than 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times...