New America Foundation's Mark Paul Praises the Governor and Assembly Speaker for their Tax Reform Proposals
Sacramento, California -- The New America Foundation today commended California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and new Assembly Speaker Karen Bass for their proposals to create a tax reform commission to look at modernizing California's tax system.
"California's tax system, much of its created in the 1930s, hasn't kept up with the transformation of state's economy," said Senior Scholar Mark Paul, who is also the deputy director of New America's California program. "By making tax reform a priority, the governor and the speaker have taken a critical first step toward creating a tax system that reliably creates revenue for public services while promoting economic growth and environmental quality."
The New America Foundation and the University of California Center Sacramento triggered the tax reform discussion in California this year by jointly sponsoring the Feb. 27, 2008, conference, "How Do/How Should We Tax?: Tax Reform for California's New Economy."
The conference brought together many of the state's leading tax experts, including Steve Sheffrin Dean of Social Sciences at UC Davis; Annette Nellen, Professor of Accounting and Finance at San Jose State University and Irvine Fellow at New America; Jim Hawley, Vice President & General Counsel at TechNet; Lenny Goldberg, Executive Director of the California Tax Reform Association; Christopher Knittel, Associate Professor of Economics, UC Davis; and W. Michael Hanemann, Chancellor's Professor, Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
Mark Paul summed up some of the discussion in his April 20, 2008, commentary in the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-paul20apr20,0,4827033.story.
For further information, contact: Mark Paul, Senior Scholar and Deputy Director of New America's California program, paul@newamerica.net, 916-448-3721, and Gary Dymski, Director, University of California Center Sacramento, gary.dymski@ucop.edu, 916-445-5900.
About the New America Foundation:
The New America Foundation is an independent, nonprofit public policy institute whose purpose is to bring exceptionally promising new voices and new ideas to the fore of our nation's public discourse. Relying on a venture capital approach, the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum. New America is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and also has offices in California.To learn more about New America's work in California, please go to http://www.newamerica.net/california.
