Milton Friedman's maxim that few things are as mobile as rich people and capital is proven starkly by data showing the wealthy are leaving California in record numbers. It is probably no coincidence that, while California has been punishing the successful for the sin of being rich, Maricopa County in neighboring Arizona gained 23,000 new millionaire households in the same time period.  Read more >>

The day before Halloween, Governor Schwarzenegger announced the formation of a bipartisan Commission on the 21st Century Economy to re-examine and modernize California's out-of-date revenue gathering laws that contribute to the boom and bust state budget cycles. In order to be a viable process it must be fair, transparent and taxpayer interests must be fully represented.  Read more >>

The November election could see Californians confronted with a record number of local tax hike measures. Despite the fact the economy is in the doldrums and people are struggling to pay for gas, food, housing, this hasn't slowed down local politicians making major new demands on taxpayers' wallets.  Read more >>

Last month I was invited to address a joint tax committee of the Utah Legislature to discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of various methods of taxing real property. Specifically, Utah is considering adopting an "acquisition value" based system -- such as Proposition 13 -- to replace its traditional "current value" system that taxes property based on what it is worth now rather than the purchase price.  Read more >>