(Updated with action items. – promoted by Brian Leubitz<\/i>)<\/p>\n
UPDATE<\/b>: The Cal Labor Federation has set up an online petition<\/a> and a Facebook group<\/a> to oppose the corporate tax cut. Hit ’em both up.<\/i><\/p>\n David Dayen has been tracking the status of the corporate tax cuts<\/a> that will net a very small number of corporations a very large tax savings, even pointing out programs that could be saved if we eliminated this corporate tax shelter<\/a>. Slowly, but steadily the story of this little escapade of corporate indulgence in a period of desperate economic straits. <\/p>\n During the state’s last two budget impasses — when the Legislature slashed $20 billion from its budget in the face of massive deficits — many said there were no winners in the process. But some did win, and win big, according to a recent report from the non-partisan, nonprofit California Budget Project.<\/p>\n As a part of its September 2008 and February 2009 budget deals, the Legislature enacted three changes to California’s corporate income tax laws that departed from long-standing policies and will result in an estimated $640 million hit to this fiscal year’s budget and, at full implementation, an expected annual revenue loss of $2 billion. It will also mean millions in annual savings for some of the state’s largest corporations.<\/p>\n The changes — which allow corporations to choose between two methods of determining their taxable income, to share tax credits and to claim refunds on previous years’ taxes — were enacted without any public hearings or public testimony. (Times-Standard 6\/11\/09<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The elective sales factor, as this cut is known, is a tax cut. There is no other way to describe it. It is selfish and short-sighted. Do its supporters, like Walt Disney, Apple, and Intel, really think that they can function in a California without basic services? Do the Silicon Valley companies think they can continue to hire good talent when our universities crumble and when our public infrastructure makes living in the region unmanageable? Or are they content to play California off other states in budget crisis mode to beat down the level of government.<\/p>\n While these corporations are talking about a simple procedural option, the fact is that this is new. Other states do not allow this elective sales factor option. It makes California something of a tax haven, and in a time when we are cutting education to unprecedented levels, it makes no sense. From both a fairness and a fiscal perspective, allowing this tax cut to take place is sheer madness.<\/p>\n This tax cut must be first in line on the chopping block. While the Republicans will pretend that this is somehow a natural born right for all corporations, these are not popular tax breaks. We have room here to push, and we must do our best to make it clear to every Californian how this came about and how it must end. A large coalition of labor, good government, child welfare, and seniors groups have joined to issue a letter to Legislative leadership saying pretty much that<\/a>:<\/p>\n There must be no more budget cuts until corporate tax cuts are shut down. The most recent corporate tax breaks give away $2.5 billion a year, every year, permanently, to a handful of the world’s largest corporations.<\/p>\n These times are challenging. We understand that you face tough choices. But you do have choices. The $2.5 billion in unnecessary corporate tax giveaways could be used instead to help keep teachers in the classroom, public safety personnel on duty, infrastructure projects moving, and our treasured state parks open. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, the question to the Legislature is then, do you represent corporations or Californians?<\/p>\n Full letter over the flip.<\/p>\n Dear Senators Steinberg and Hollingsworth and Assemblymembers Bass and Blakeslee:<\/p>\n There must be no more budget cuts until corporate tax cuts are shut down. The most recent corporate tax breaks give away $2.5 billion a year, every year, permanently, to a handful of the world’s largest corporations.<\/p>\n These times are challenging. We understand that you face tough choices. But you do have choices. The $2.5 billion in unnecessary corporate tax giveaways could be used instead to help keep teachers in the classroom, public safety personnel on duty, infrastructure projects moving, and our treasured state parks open. It would mean fewer of our most vulnerable citizens – children, seniors and the disabled – go without the services they desperately need.<\/p>\n These egregious giveaways have no value to the state or the majority of its businesses. Tax cuts like the elective single sales factor, tax credit sharing, and net operating loss carrybacks not only weaken our state in the current crisis, they will create a bigger budget gap in future years. And these tax giveaways do nothing to help create jobs or soften the economic blow so many families are facing.<\/p>\n Fairness dictates that everyone shares in the pain. And that includes some of the world’s wealthiest corporations. Before considering additional cuts to programs Californians care so deeply about, we ask that you shut down these corporate tax giveaways.<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n California Labor Federation Cc:\tGovernor Arnold Schwarzenegger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UPDATE<\/b>: The Cal Labor Federation has set up an online petition<\/a> and a Facebook group<\/a> to oppose the corporate tax cut. Hit ’em both up.<\/i><\/p>\n David Dayen has been tracking the status of the corporate tax cuts<\/a> that will net a very small number of corporations a very large tax savings, even pointing out programs that could be saved if we eliminated this corporate tax shelter<\/a>. Slowly, but steadily the story of this little escapade of corporate indulgence in a period of desperate economic straits. <\/p>\n During the state’s last two budget impasses — when the Legislature slashed $20 billion from its budget in the face of massive deficits — many said there were no winners in the process. But some did win, and win big, according to a recent report from the non-partisan, nonprofit California Budget Project.<\/p>\n As a part of its September 2008 and February 2009 budget deals, the Legislature enacted three changes to California’s corporate income tax laws that departed from long-standing policies and will result in an estimated $640 million hit to this fiscal year’s budget and, at full implementation, an expected annual revenue loss of $2 billion. It will also mean millions in annual savings for some of the state’s largest corporations.<\/p>\n The changes — which allow corporations to choose between two methods of determining their taxable income, to share tax credits and to claim refunds on previous years’ taxes — were enacted without any public hearings or public testimony. (Times-Standard 6\/11\/09<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The elective sales factor, as this cut is known, is a tax cut. There is no other way to describe it. It is selfish and short-sighted. Do its supporters, like Walt Disney, Apple, and Intel, really think that they can function in a California without basic services? Do the Silicon Valley companies think they can continue to hire good talent when our universities crumble and when our public infrastructure makes living in the region unmanageable? Or are they content to play California off other states in budget crisis mode to beat down the level of government.<\/p>\n While these corporations are talking about a simple procedural option, the fact is that this is new. Other states do not allow this elective sales factor option. It makes California something of a tax haven, and in a time when we are cutting education to unprecedented levels, it makes no sense. From both a fairness and a fiscal perspective, allowing this tax cut to take place is sheer madness.<\/p>\n This tax cut must be first in line on the chopping block. While the Republicans will pretend that this is somehow a natural born right for all corporations, these are not popular tax breaks. We have room here to push, and we must do our best to make it clear to every Californian how this came about and how it must end. A large coalition of labor, good government, child welfare, and seniors groups have joined to issue a letter to Legislative leadership saying pretty much that<\/a>:<\/p>\n There must be no more budget cuts until corporate tax cuts are shut down. The most recent corporate tax breaks give away $2.5 billion a year, every year, permanently, to a handful of the world’s largest corporations.<\/p>\n These times are challenging. We understand that you face tough choices. But you do have choices. The $2.5 billion in unnecessary corporate tax giveaways could be used instead to help keep teachers in the classroom, public safety personnel on duty, infrastructure projects moving, and our treasured state parks open. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, the question to the Legislature is then, do you represent corporations or Californians?<\/p>\n Full letter over the flip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[117],"tags":[7401,7402,60],"class_list":["post-9105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-117","tag-7401","tag-7402","tag-60"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pvhz-2mR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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ACORN
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American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
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Asian Pacific American Legal Center
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Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
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Association of California State Supervisors
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California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA)
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California Budget Project (CBP)
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California Church IMPACT
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California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
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California Conference of Machinists
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California Faculty Association (CFA)
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California Federation of Interpreters
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California Federation of Teachers (CFT)
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California League of Conservation Voters
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California Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers
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California Nurses Association (CNA)
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California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
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California Partnership
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California Primary Care Association
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California Professional Firefighters (CPF)
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California Reinvestment Coalition
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California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF)
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California School Employees Association
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California State Employees Association
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California Tax Reform Association
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California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
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California WIC Association
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California\/Nevada Community Action Partnership
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CALPIRG
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Center for Environmental Health
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Child Care Law Center
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Children’s Defense Fund-California
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Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
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Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, Inc.
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Communication Workers of America, District 9
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Congress of California Seniors
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Consumer Attorneys of California
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Consumer Federation of California
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Consumer Watchdog
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Consumers for Automobile Reliability and Safety
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Friends Committee on Legislation of California
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Glendale City Employees Association
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Guam Communications Network
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Having Our Say Coalition
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Health Access California
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International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Northern California District Council
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International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Southern California District Council
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JERICHO, a Voice for Justice
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Latino Health Alliance
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Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California
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Madera Coalition for Community Justice
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National Lawyers Guild Labor & Employment Committee
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National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles Chapter
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Older Women’s League of California
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Organization of SMUD Employees
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Parent Voices
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Professional and Technical Engineers, IFPTE Local 21, AFL-CIO
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Public Advocates Inc.
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Rural Community Assistance Corp
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San Bernardino Public Employees Association
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San Luis Obispo County Employees Association
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Santa Rosa City Employees Association
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Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
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Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN)
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State Building and Construction Trades Council (SBCTC)
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Time for Change Foundation
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UAW Local 2865
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UAW Local 4123
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UNITE-HERE
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United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council (UFCW)
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United Transportation Union (UTU)
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UPTE-CWA, Local 9119
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Western Center on Law and Poverty
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Women’s Foundation of California<\/p>\n