Annette Nellen in Orange County Register | California Lawmakers Want to Tax Downloads

Communications — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:

California Lawmakers Want to Tax Downloads (Orange County Register)

Democrats would revise the definition of what's taxable instead of proposing a new tax that requires GOP support. . .

So what do you think will happen with downloads?

"You're just going to have a bigger use tax problem," admits Annette Nellen, a San Jose State tax professor who nonetheless supports taxing downloads.

Nellen likes the tax, in part, because increasing revenues isn't her biggest concern – rationale tax policy is. A fellow at the New America Foundation, Nellen has been urging the state to broaden its sales tax because she says a "consumption tax" should tax all the things we consume – goods and services, products and downloads.

"Our tax base hasn't kept up with how we do business and how we live," she said, and that means state revenues will naturally dwindle unless something is done.

"The way we consume things have changed, but we still have a 1930s tax base," she said. . .

New America's Health Policy Report in the Orange County Register

Communications — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:01:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed Monday to want it both ways: fix the problem of California's 6 million uninsured without raising taxes, or maybe fix the problem by raising taxes...

"I don't believe in including taxes here because people are right now being punished with the hidden tax," the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Gov. Schwarzenegger, responding to questions at a Los Angeles-area event. He was alluding to how uninsured health care costs are shifted to people paying insurance premiums.

Yet the governor also didn't seem to absolutely rule out new taxes – if the taxes are suggested by the Democrat-controlled Legislature. According to the Sacramento Bee, when asked whether he would approve a solution that includes a tax increase, the Republican governor said, "I'm not telling you now what I would or would not consider..."

Gov. Schwarzenegger touted a new study Monday showing the average family pays a $1,186 "hidden tax" in inflated insurance premiums to subsidize health care for the uninsured. If the governor was signaling that the study by the Washington, D.C.-based New America Foundation is one he is taking his cues from, Californians should be wary. One of the authors concluded: "It would be better to have a universal health care system where everyone gets coverage that is more affordable."

Universal health care. Now, that's a balloon worth popping. Even the governor vetoed a mandatory, government-ordained universal health care program in September. In his own words at the time, "Socialized medicine is not the solution to our state's health care problems. This bill would require an extraordinary redirection of public and private funding by creating a vast new bureaucracy to take over health insurance and medical care for Californians – a serious and expensive mistake..."

For the complete article, please visit The Orange County Register website.