Sales Tax

SACRAMENTO - California's $8-an-hour minimum wage needs to go up, says Watsonville Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo. And he may be getting the votes he needs to make it happen. But don't count on it; Alejo has tried this before. Alejo is the author of AB 10, which would give the Golden State its first minimum wage increase since 2008. The bill would raise it 25 cents an hour next year, 50 cents in 2015 and an additional 50 cents to $9.25 an hour in 2016. In 2017 and annually thereafter, hourly pay would be adjusted upward automatically, based on the state's inflation rate.

Los Angeles voters rejected a plan to hike the city's sales tax two months ago, but the battle over that measure lives on in a hotly contested City Council race. In multiple mailers sent to voters in the 13th council district, candidate John Choi and his backers in organized labor contend that Choi's rival, Mitch O'Farrell, supported the layoffs of 500 police officers. In one mailer, a downcast O'Farrell is pictured next to a crime scene and the words: "Votes to cut 500 cops. " Choi and his backers base the claim on O'Farrell's opposition to Proposition A, the March 5 ballot measure that was promoted by city leaders and others as a way to avoid reductions in police staffing.

Car dealers have found a new way to profit from people with money trouble: leasing them hand-me-down vehicles. The deals are pitched to customers as the cheapest way to drive a used car off the lot, with the added benefit of an easy escape for those who can't keep up with the payments. Few customers are told about the advantages on the other side of the trade. Leases can allow dealerships to sidestep interest rate caps, and there are fewer financial disclosures rules than with a conventional car loan.

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Jerry Brown is taking another stab at largely eliminating a state $700-million tax break for "enterprise zones" aimed at creating jobs in economically strapped localities. The governor failed in his efforts in 2011 to eliminate these politically popular quarter-century-old zones, located in the legislative districts of about three out of every four lawmakers. In his revised budget Tuesday, Brown proposed that 40 enterprise zones be replaced by a sales tax credit for companies that purchase manufacturing or biotech research and development equipment.

Voters in this famously tax-averse state Tuesday night approved a temporary hike in the sales tax to stave off brutal budget cuts, handing Gov. Jan Brewer a crucial victory. The veteran Republican had shocked many in her party last year by advocating the penny sales tax increase, arguing that the state couldn't simply cut its way out of a deficit that rivals California's. Critics said it was economic suicide to raise taxes in a recession. On Tuesday night, as early returns showed two-thirds of voters agreeing with the governor, Brewer declared victory in front of supporters inside a middle school student union here.

When I scolded deadbeat Angelenos for blowing off Tuesday's election, some of them had just enough energy to return fire. "I chose not to spit into the wind anymore," wrote Lou. "It is not an embarrassment to shun an embarrassment like L.A. 'government' and L.A. politicians," wrote Loren. Just as I was about to scold them all over again, along came Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who reminded us why there's such raging cynicism in Los Angeles. Let's go back to early February, when Villaraigosa endorsed Measure A. That was the proposal for a half-cent sales-tax increase that would have raised about $200 million a year in a city with a projected annual budget shortfall of roughly that very amount for years to come.

With all the ballots counted, the half-cent sales tax increase for transportation projects in Los Angeles County passed with 67.93% of the vote. The tax hike, known as Measure R, needed two-thirds approval. Measure R is expected to raise $30 billion to $40 billion over its 30-year life span, proponents say. The most expensive project it will fund is an extension of the Westside subway. The increase will begin July 1 and bring the sales tax rate in the county to 8.75%.

Re "Gov. pushes hike in sales tax, big cuts," Nov. 7 Now, let's see if I understand this correctly: On Tuesday, Nov. 4, we approved additional sales taxes for Los Angeles County with Proposition R, a 0.5-cent tax on the dollar, plus Proposition 1A for a bullet train for California. Then on Friday, Nov. 7, The Times reported that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking for a sales-tax increase -- 1.5 cents on the dollar -- to fund the state coffers. Also in Friday's Times, there is a report that the Department of Water and Power wants to increase our bills so they can install solar panels.

A group of environmentalists is threatening to fight a proposed sales tax for traffic improvements unless the county sponsors a bond issue designed to give them perhaps $2 million or more to buy land and protect it from development. County officials say they are seriously considering the deal, which is similar to a compromise struck last year in Contra Costa County. Some proponents of the half-cent levy, though, think the environmentalists lack the clout to force the issue. "The environmental community is saying that we've been left out of the process for so long that we need something on our side for us to support a sales tax," said Elizabeth Brown, who proposed the deal as president of Laguna Greenbelt Inc., an influential environmental group.

We're No. 1 -- only more so. The budget deal that the Legislature reached Thursday will keep California's top personal income tax rate and sales tax rate the highest in the Union. The deal will raise personal income tax rates by 0.25 of a percentage point across the board. The highest rate, on taxable income of more than $1 million, will rise to 10.55% from 10.3%. The next-highest tax rate, on taxable income of more than $94,110 for a married couple filing jointly, will rise to 9.55% from 9.3%.

WASHINGTON - The Senate gave strong bipartisan approval to landmark legislation that could largely lead to the end of the nation's decades-long Internet sales tax holiday. Now the issue shifts to the more skeptical, Republican-controlled House, where the debate will revolve around one fundamental question: Does helping governments collect an existing and owed tax constitute a tax increase? The Marketplace Fairness Act, approved 69-27 Monday by the Senate, gives states the authority to require larger online retailers with no physical presence in those states to collect sales taxes that residents already are obligated to pay. Many states, including California, are expected to jump at the chance to start collecting an estimated $23 billion in total sales tax revenue that is lost to online, catalog and other so-called remote sales each year.

WASHINGTON - House Speaker John A. Boehner said he probably won't support legislation allowing states to require that larger retailers collect sales taxes on Internet purchases. And a key House committee chairman said his panel would take a "more thoughtful" approach to the bill, which passed the Senate overwhelmingly Monday. The comments signaled that momentum from Monday's easy passage of the bill in the Senate won't lead to quick House action on the controversial issue. Boehner (R-Ohio)

SACRAMENTO - California's $8-an-hour minimum wage needs to go up, says Watsonville Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo. And he may be getting the votes he needs to make it happen. But don't count on it; Alejo has tried this before. Alejo is the author of AB 10, which would give the Golden State its first minimum wage increase since 2008. The bill would raise it 25 cents an hour next year, 50 cents in 2015 and an additional 50 cents to $9.25 an hour in 2016. In 2017 and annually thereafter, hourly pay would be adjusted upward automatically, based on the state's inflation rate.

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote next month on a bill that could require online retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in every state that imposes them. The measure has been bashed by opponents as a tax increase that would cripple small Web businesses. It's not, and it won't. Instead, the Marketplace Fairness Act would eliminate an outdated restriction that favors those who can shop online over those who can't or won't. That's reason enough for it to become law. For much of the last two decades, Internet retailers collected sales taxes only from customers in the states where they were headquartered or had employees.

With rare bipartisan support, the Senate is poised to pass a bill this week that could lead largely to the end of the nation's long online sales tax holiday. The measure would allow states to require that large online retailers collect sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet, closing a loophole that has benefited the likes of EBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The White House gave the legislation its approval Monday, and it passed a key procedural hurdle. The Senate voted 74 to 20 to begin consideration of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act, with a final vote expected in a few days.

When he was a senator representing South Carolina, Jim DeMint argued that collecting sales taxes on Internet purchases was an impermissible form of taxation without representation . He's continuing this meme in his new role as head of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. And he's still wrong. DeMint's ire was focused on a bill, S 743, by Republican Sen. Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming that would require online retailers to collect sales taxes from customers based on the buyer's local tax rate.

Over the next several months the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the 28 city councils in the county will be reviewing the 20-year transportation plan unanimously approved last Monday by the Orange County Transportation Commission. The plan should be supported. The commission's approval, and ratification by a majority of the county board and city councils representing a majority of the cities' populations, will legally clear the way to put a proposed half-cent transportation sales tax before voters and in essence, the 20-year plan along with it. It is time that the sales-tax proposal was put back on the ballot.

WASHINGTON - House Speaker John A. Boehner said he probably won't support legislation allowing states to require that larger retailers collect sales taxes on Internet purchases. And a key House committee chairman said his panel would take a "more thoughtful" approach to the bill, which passed the Senate overwhelmingly Monday. The comments signaled that momentum from Monday's easy passage of the bill in the Senate won't lead to quick House action on the controversial issue. Boehner (R-Ohio)

In a city reeling from earthquakes, riots and a deep recession, Tim Leiweke emerged as a powerful force in Los Angeles. He made his mark in 1999, opening Staples Center in a moribund section of downtown. Then the L.A. Live complex, which changed the downtown skyline for the first time in a decade. Leiweke's departure Thursday as head of entertainment giant Anschutz Entertainment Group sent ripples through not only L.A.'s business community but also its civic and political circles.

Re "Tax vote reflects differing realities," March 9 The Times should be wary about printing such an enlightening article, which notes that though voters in less well-off L.A. neighborhoods overwhelmingly supported Proposition A (the failed half-cent sales tax increase on the city ballot last week), those in wealthier areas decisively rejected it. To document the wealthy's disdain for taxes that might help the poor risks banal accusations about fomenting "class warfare. " Readers might draw unjust conclusions about those most vociferously opposed to tax increases for the public good.