Tag: california

California considering insane plan to double its (already high) taxes

California already has some of the highest taxes in the United States and is losing residents as a result. Yet Golden State liberals aren’t deterred. They’re now pursuing a state constitutional amendment that could double California’s taxes.

The proposed amendment, ACA 11, would hike several key taxes to fund a state-level government healthcare scheme. According to the right-leaning Tax Foundation , it would increase the average household’s taxes by an astonishing $12,250.

It’s estimated that the amendment would increase state revenue by $163 billion a year, which is more revenue than California had ever seen in an entire year before 2020. (That means it’s effectively doubling the state’s taxes.)

As the Tax Foundation’s Jared Walczak explains , the tax hikes take three forms. There’s an income surcharge (on top of the already-high state income taxes) that applies starting at $149,509 in earnings. There’s also a payroll tax add-on, with the top rate applying to employees earning $49,990 or more. Then, there’s a 2.3% business tax hike on gross receipts above the first $2 million a business takes in.

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California Escalates Its War on the Marijuana Black Market

Having utterly failed to end the marijuana black market in California, lawmakers have decided to backslide into the drug war by increasing fines on those who operate outside of the state’s very costly and tightly regulated legal cannabis system.

California will begin 2022 not just by increasing taxes on legal marijuana cultivation but also by introducing new fines against anybody “aiding and abetting” any unlicensed dealers in the state.

Lawmakers passed A.B. 1138 in September, and it was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October to take effect at the start of 2022. California law establishing recreational marijuana already permits civil penalties against unlicensed marijuana dealers. A.B.1138 threatens civil fines of up to $30,000 per violation against anybody providing assistance to an unlicensed dealer. And each day of doing so counts as a new violation.

California’s implementation of recreational cannabis regulations, authorized by the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016, has been a massive mess. The ballot initiative allowed for municipalities to decide whether to allow cultivation and dispensaries, and two-thirds of them still refuse to do so despite the public vote. The state levies high cultivation and excise taxes that are escalated further by local sales taxes in any municipality that does allow for dispensaries to open up shop.

The result has been price and availability issues so severe that experts estimate that between two-thirds and three-quarters of all marijuana purchases take place through unlicensed dealers, which means that the state isn’t getting its share of the revenue. The problem is so severe that the editorial board at the Los Angeles Times recently acknowledged that high taxes for goods fuel black markets.

But instead of eliminating or reducing these taxes, the state is instead taking a more punitive approach. And it’s not just lawmakers looking to make sure the state is getting its cut of the money. The bill was introduced by Assemblywoman Blanca E. Rubio (D–Baldwin Park), but the Assembly analysis of her proposal explains that it was co-sponsored by the United Cannabis Business Association and The United Food and Commercial Western (UFCW) States Council, the union that represents some licensed cannabis industry workers. Several licensed cannabis industries and trade groups have also signed on in support.

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Californians Learn That Raising Taxes on Marijuana Fuels Black Markets for Drugs

At the beginning of 2022, tax rates for marijuana cultivated in California are set to increase, even though black market sales completely dominate the retail market in the Golden State.

Experts estimate that about three-quarters of all marijuana sales in California happen not through legal dispensaries, but through unlicensed vendors. California voters legalized the cultivation and sale of marijuana for recreational use in 2016, but extremely high taxes and oppressive regulations have caused the rollout to be a disaster.

The tax increase set to hit on New Year’s Day is a prime example. California taxes the cultivation of marijuana by weight. In the tax regulations that state lawmakers passed for cannabis in 2017, the cultivation tax rate was tied to inflation. When inflation rises, the cultivation tax will also automatically rise.

Inflation rose in 2021, and not by a small amount. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates that consumer prices rose nationally 6.8 percent between November 2020 and November 2021. Because of California’s law, cultivation taxes will rise 4.5 percent. For growers of fresh cannabis plants, the cultivation tax will jump from $1.35 an ounce to $1.41 an ounce. On top of the cultivation tax, the state charges a 15 percent excise tax, and the cities that allow dispensaries have their own local sales tax rates. A person attempting to legally buy marijuana in California can expect the price to balloon between 35–50 percent through tax add-ons, depending on the city.

This, obviously, will make it all the more difficult for legal vendors to compete with the black market. That the increase is happening anyway is absurd and should be seen as a warning against automatically tying any tax rate to inflation.

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Power Outage? Too Bad. California Just Banned the Sale of Gas-Powered Generators, Lawnmowers, & Leaf Blowers

In an effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted this month to ban the sale of new off-road engines such as those found in leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other equipment by 2024. The ruling also bans portable generators by requiring new models to meet more stringent standards in 2024 and meet zero-emission standards starting in 2028.

The decision by the board follows an executive order issued by California Governor and covid tyrant, Gavin Newsom (D) to bar the sale of gas-powered lawn equipment to curb emissions.

“Today’s action by the Board addresses these small but highly polluting engines. It is a significant step towards improving air quality in the state, and will definitely help us meet stringent federal air quality standards,” CARB chair Liane Randolph said in a statement. “It will also essentially eliminate exposure to harmful fumes for equipment operators and anyone nearby.”

The new standards for generator sales for 2024 will reportedly require generator manufacturers to improve their efficiency by somewhere between 40% and 90%, eventually being zero emissions by 2028. The improvements by 2024 are likely unrealistic meaning it will be extraordinarily hard to find a generator in the state by 2024.

The state has set aside $30 million to help landscapers and mowing companies make the transition. But $30 million is a drop in the bucket given the fact that there are hundreds of mom and pop shops currently selling small engines across the state and thousands of landscape and mowing companies.

It is important to point out that folks who currently own a gas powered generator will still be able to use them, however, those who want to get one in a future emergency will soon be out of luck.

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California Schools Drop ‘D’ and ‘F’ Grades in a Shift to ‘Competency-Based’ Learning 

Some of the largest school districts in California are dropping “D” and “F” grades, moving towards what they call “competency-based” learning.

Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified, Santa Ana, Los Angeles, and other school districts across the state are limiting the use of “D” grades and phasing out “Fs” entirely.

Instead of failing an assignment or exam, students now have the option to retake a test and have additional time to complete an assignment.

Proponents of the move hope it will encourage students to learn and not worry about the fear of a low grade pushing them off the pathway to university.

Nidya Baez, assistant principal at an Oakland Unified high school, said:

Our hope is that students begin to see school as a place of learning, where they can take risks and learn from mistakes, instead of a place of compliance. Right now, we have a system where we give a million points for a million pieces of paper that students turn in, without much attention to what they’re actually learning.

Others also criticized the traditional grading method for its subjectivity and its psychological impact on school-aged children.

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CA School Bribed Boy with Pizza to Get Covid Jab Without Parent’s Consent, Told Him to Keep it Secret

Maribel Duarte is not an anti-vaxxer, in fact, she is fully vaccinated as well as the rest of her family. However, her 13-year-old son suffers from allergy and lung conditions so she was holding off on getting him vaccinated due to these problems.

“Regarding my son’s health, I am against it,” she said.

Unfortunately, being against it is no longer an option, however, as the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) took it upon themselves to vaccinate her son for her — without her consent.

Duarte told NBC 4 News her 13-year-old son came home with a vaccine card after saying yes to being vaccinated in exchange for pizza at the Barack Obama Global Prep Academy school in South LA.

The LAUSD has also taken it upon themselves to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all children over the age of 12. They must receive the jab before January 10, 2022 or children will be forced into virtual learning and blocked from entering campus.

The statement on the LAUSD website read,

“Attention families of students aged 12 or older—this is your reminder to get your child vaccinated. Your first dose must be uploaded into Daily Pass no later than December 19, 2021. Both doses must be uploaded before January 10, 2022!”

Apparently, the district has since began a campaign to vaccinate students at school and is rewarding them with pizza. What’s more, according to Duarte, the unknown woman who vaccinated her son told her son to keep it a secret, so she wouldn’t get in trouble.

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Now The Public Health Dictators Want You Masked in Your Own Home — And Other Tyrannical Weekly News

Now that another COVID variant has emerged with a scary new name, governments are excited to flex their dictatorial COVID powers once again.

Santa Cruz County, California is back with an indoor mask mandate, but this time with a twist.

The public health order states that in addition to public places like restaurants and gyms:

“Masks must be worn in private settings, including your home, when non-household members are present.”

And yes, this applies to the fully vaccinated.

It’s hard to imagine that this order is legal or how local authorities will be able to enforce the rule.

The sheer insanity is that these bureaucrats think they have this kind of power to begin with.

Click here to read the health order.

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California’s new educational guidelines say math is racist

California is set to adopt new math teaching principles that are based in critical race theory. These changes, which include deemphasizing calculus and pulling programs for academically gifted students, will “apply social justice principles to math lessons.”

These guidelines do not instruct educators to teach critical race theory, but rather use critical race theory as a guide for the formation of teaching principles. Critical race theory is not being taught to students, but taught to teachers, who are then meant to use it to formulate their own practices.

The goal of the new math framework is “to maintain rigor while also helping remedy California’s achievement gaps” for black, Latino, and poor students. the reason for the changes is that California students are falling behind in math.

“We were transforming math education, and change is hard and scary,” Rebecca Pariso, a math teacher at Hueneme Elementary School District told the San Francisco Standard. “Especially if you don’t understand why that change needs to occur. But I didn’t expect it to go this far.” The inspiration for these new guidelines came from San Francisco educational standards.

In the new guidelines, which will up for consideration prior to their potential adoption in July, reading in Chapter 2, “Teaching for Equity and Engagement,” reads that “Cultural relevance is important for learning and also for expanding a collective sense of what mathematical communities look and sound like to reflect California’s diverse history.”

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Shock Report: CA Teachers Urge Recruiting Kids Into LGBT Clubs

In a shocking report, Abigail Shrier, the author of the best-selling book “Irreversible Damage,” revealed that at a late October meeting at a conference of California’s largest teacher’s union, the California Teachers Association (CTA), documents show teachers were encouraged to recruit students into LGBT clubs, urging them to “have the courage to create a safe environment that fosters bravery to explore sexual orientation.” One teacher reportedly chortled, “We’re going to do just a little mind-trick on our sixth graders.”

Additionally, Shier wrote, “Speakers went so far as to tout their surveillance of students’ Google searches, internet activity, and hallway conversations in order to target sixth graders for personal invitations to LGBTQ clubs, while actively concealing these clubs’ membership rolls from participants’ parents.”

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Newsom, Who Wants Kids Vaccinated, Fights Vaccine Mandates For Prison Guards, Whose Union Gave $1.75 Million To Fight Recall

California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, who believes in vaccine mandates so much that he issued the first vaccine mandate in the United States targeting children in public and private schools, has a different view when it comes to the state’s prison guards, whose union donated a whopping $1.75 million to Newsom for September’s recall election. Newsom is appealing the ruling issued by U.S. District Court Judge Jon S. Tigar that stated prison guards must be vaccinated in order to protect incarcerated prisoners.

Tigar wrote in the ruling issued September 27, “… access by workers to CDCR institutions be limited to those workers who establish proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or have established a religious or medical exemption to vaccination and (2) incarcerated persons who desire to work outside of the institution or to have in-person visitation must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or establish a religious or medical exemption.”

“For months, the politically powerful union and the Newsom administration have resisted a COVID vaccine mandate for prison workers, despite the spread of the deadly virus behind prison walls,” Cal Matters reported.

On Tuesday, Newsom and the state appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

SFGATE noted, “Newsom’s hostility towards the mandate for prison guards does not align with his previous statements on COVID mitigation efforts, including vaccine mandates.” Newsom had told CBS News less than 24 hours after the attempt to recall him had failed in September, “We need to stiffen our spines and lean into keeping people safe and healthy. We shouldn’t be timid in trying to protect people’s lives and mitigate the spread and transmission of the disease.”

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