Post-tax season fatigue beginning to lift
It is day three following the end of the busiest tax season I've had since 2006. I'm just beginning to feel less than complete and utter fatigue. Tomorrow I'm going to see at least one and possibly two movies. I do have to work on Monday and Wednesday before my mandated two month break. I am looking forward to having days on end with no responsibility to get up and go to work.
* * *
California Senate Bill 1 is a 12 cent increase in the gasoline tax and a 20 cent increase in the tax on diesel fuel with the stated objective of fixing our state's long-neglected highways. You can read the text here.
This bill is an ideal example of what is wrong with this state's political process. In an effort to seek transparency in that process, we passed Proposition 54. It requires that all bills in the State Assembly and State Senate be posted publicly for at least 72 hours prior to passage. As reported by the L.A. Times earlier this month, Governor Moonbeam and the members of the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature made side deals with bills not due for a vote until later on, avoiding the transparency provisions of Prop 54.
Worse yet, they have already started to divert these funds, which are supposed to be used solely for our state's roadways, for other purposes. Multiple sources are reporting that the Democrats pulled a bill that would have diverted $15 million in SB 1 funds for:
Restroom repairs at state parks - $5 million
Improve access for communities without parks - $5 million
Acquire property for wildlife - $5 million
For decades our elected leadership in Sacramento has diverted gasoline tax funds for everything under the sun except repairing and maintaining the roads of our state. During this past tax season I've had to maneuver around the myriad of potholes and other problems during my daily commute. It's tiresome and unnecessary.
14 months ago the L.A. Times reported that Caltrans had already deferred $59 billion in highway projects because the Legislature had diverted gas tax funds for other purposes. Before Governor Moonbeam's signature adds that 12 cents to the state gas tax, bear in mind that we are already paying over 38 cents per gallon in state gas tax. That is on top of the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. I don't mind paying gas tax when it is used as intended. to maintain the roads and highways I drive on. I do mind when it's being diverted for other purposes.
BTW, that 12 cents per gallon increase will make California the state with the 2nd highest gas tax in the nation.
* * *
The battle between the hotel industry and AirBnB is heating up and may hit the boiling point soon. During the election cycle last year the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) raised and spent record amounts to support candidates who do not want those engaged in renting out their properties on AirBnB to have an unfair competitive advantage.
AirBnb's Christopher Lehane, director of policy and communications responded with a letter to the president of the AHLA. In it he wrote:
"We ought to be able to agree that the middle-class family that shares their home while traveling is not a commercial operator running a business."
The problem is that the reality is that much of the AirBnB business is not middle-class families sharing their home while traveling. A report published in March of 2015 by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) claimed that much of the revenue earned by AirBnB hosts in L.A. was from "leasing companies" that had more than one listing on the AirBnB site. Later that month AirBnB responded by dropping the company with the most such listings, Global Homes and Condos (they had 78 listings in the Santa Monica/Venice area at the time) and other large, obviously commercial ventures.
But that did not solve the problem. I know of people who are operating AirBnB listings that are for rent year-round. Apartments that have been rented out for the sole purpose of being re-rented as an AirBnB property. That is not to say there are not people who are renting out their homes on an infrequent basis, when traveling. There are. The question is, which is the majority?
Shouldn't people who are listing their homes on a constant basis be subject to the same rules and better still, taxes as hotels are? AirBnB listings in Las Vegas may not have casinos and restaurants within elevator distance of those properties but the savings on hotel taxes and resort fees would be significant. They may not be harming the business of big hotels but they may well be cutting down the business of small motel operators.
The point is more research and transparency is required.
* * *
* * *
California Senate Bill 1 is a 12 cent increase in the gasoline tax and a 20 cent increase in the tax on diesel fuel with the stated objective of fixing our state's long-neglected highways. You can read the text here.
This bill is an ideal example of what is wrong with this state's political process. In an effort to seek transparency in that process, we passed Proposition 54. It requires that all bills in the State Assembly and State Senate be posted publicly for at least 72 hours prior to passage. As reported by the L.A. Times earlier this month, Governor Moonbeam and the members of the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature made side deals with bills not due for a vote until later on, avoiding the transparency provisions of Prop 54.
Worse yet, they have already started to divert these funds, which are supposed to be used solely for our state's roadways, for other purposes. Multiple sources are reporting that the Democrats pulled a bill that would have diverted $15 million in SB 1 funds for:
Restroom repairs at state parks - $5 million
Improve access for communities without parks - $5 million
Acquire property for wildlife - $5 million
For decades our elected leadership in Sacramento has diverted gasoline tax funds for everything under the sun except repairing and maintaining the roads of our state. During this past tax season I've had to maneuver around the myriad of potholes and other problems during my daily commute. It's tiresome and unnecessary.
14 months ago the L.A. Times reported that Caltrans had already deferred $59 billion in highway projects because the Legislature had diverted gas tax funds for other purposes. Before Governor Moonbeam's signature adds that 12 cents to the state gas tax, bear in mind that we are already paying over 38 cents per gallon in state gas tax. That is on top of the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. I don't mind paying gas tax when it is used as intended. to maintain the roads and highways I drive on. I do mind when it's being diverted for other purposes.
BTW, that 12 cents per gallon increase will make California the state with the 2nd highest gas tax in the nation.
* * *
The battle between the hotel industry and AirBnB is heating up and may hit the boiling point soon. During the election cycle last year the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) raised and spent record amounts to support candidates who do not want those engaged in renting out their properties on AirBnB to have an unfair competitive advantage.
AirBnb's Christopher Lehane, director of policy and communications responded with a letter to the president of the AHLA. In it he wrote:
"We ought to be able to agree that the middle-class family that shares their home while traveling is not a commercial operator running a business."
The problem is that the reality is that much of the AirBnB business is not middle-class families sharing their home while traveling. A report published in March of 2015 by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) claimed that much of the revenue earned by AirBnB hosts in L.A. was from "leasing companies" that had more than one listing on the AirBnB site. Later that month AirBnB responded by dropping the company with the most such listings, Global Homes and Condos (they had 78 listings in the Santa Monica/Venice area at the time) and other large, obviously commercial ventures.
But that did not solve the problem. I know of people who are operating AirBnB listings that are for rent year-round. Apartments that have been rented out for the sole purpose of being re-rented as an AirBnB property. That is not to say there are not people who are renting out their homes on an infrequent basis, when traveling. There are. The question is, which is the majority?
Shouldn't people who are listing their homes on a constant basis be subject to the same rules and better still, taxes as hotels are? AirBnB listings in Las Vegas may not have casinos and restaurants within elevator distance of those properties but the savings on hotel taxes and resort fees would be significant. They may not be harming the business of big hotels but they may well be cutting down the business of small motel operators.
The point is more research and transparency is required.
* * *
posted by me at 9:50 AM
<< Home