Even Californians Are Saying No to New Taxes

Across the state, county and city ballot measures raising levies are trailing or have been defeated

By Allysia Finley.  Excerpts:

"the city (LA) routinely deploys firefighting crews to respond to 911 medical calls that could be handled by emergency medical technicians at much lower cost."

"In Contra Costa County . . . employee salaries and benefits have risen 47% since 2020."

"Even San Francisco liberals rejected a union-backed gross-receipts tax hike on large companies with more than $1 billion in sales in the city."

"Unions dressed up their measure as an “Overpaid CEO tax” because it would hit companies whose highest-paid executive makes more than 100 times its median employee’s pay. This political sales job worked in 2020, when two-thirds of San Francisco voters approved a similar tax. But voters weren’t about to get swindled again."

"Following the 2020 tax hike, businesses reduced their workforces in the city to minimize their tax liability. Business groups championed a 2024 ballot measure to slash the tax, which passed." 

$264 of Stuffed Flounder and Fancy Hotels: The Rising Fury Over Government Spending

‘I feel cheated.’ Purchasing-card use by public officials, including waste and alleged fraud, is stoking taxpayer backlash in cities and towns across the U.S.

By Scott Calvert of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Municipalities routinely grant p-cards to elected officials and other employees as a way to streamline business-related purchases. What’s being targeted now is purported misuse and lax oversight. Watchdogs’ findings range from claims of wasteful spending to alleged fraud. Some local officials have pushed back, though many say they have beefed up rules for p-cards."

"In Richmond, Va., a city audit last year identified $5 million in questionable transactions out of about $21 million over roughly two years. Among them: $1,423 on a catered lunch for a training session attended by 14 employees; $738 on “drinks, desserts, popsicles, and supplies” for an appreciation event attended by 11, and a $480 business suit for an employee to wear to court." 

Requiring the SAT Test Boosts Student Success

After we started requiring entrance exams at Chapman University, graduation rates more than doubled

Letter to The WSJ. 

"I well understand the frustration of the University of California’s math and science professors who are urging that college-entrance exams be reinstated as an admission requirement (“California Professors Want Entrance Exams Back,” U.S. News, June 2).

When I became president of Chapman University in 1991, we didn’t require college-entrance exams. Many considered that a badge of honor. If, however, academic success is measured by a school’s ability to nurture its students through graduation, we were failing. Only 38% of the students who started as freshmen at Chapman graduated four to six years later. That compared to a 62% graduation rate for the top 10-ranked colleges in our U.S. News & World Report category.

The reason for our low graduation rate wasn’t hard to find. We found across a large sample of competing schools that the correlation between entrance-exam scores and graduation rates was more than double that for any other admission requirement, including high-school GPAs and class standing.

Those findings led us to require SAT/ACT entrance exams. We steadily increased the minimum admission score over the 25 years I served as president. That strategy worked: Our graduation rate more than doubled to 79% over that same period. Even more important, our faculty told me that raising the academic bar resulted in a more vibrant classroom experience and a richer campus life.

Jim Doti

Former president, Chapman University"

Why the ‘Hormuz Shock’ Isn’t the ’70s All Over Again

Things would be a lot worse absent our current energy diversity

Letter to The WSJ.

"Daniel Yergin’s analysis of the worldwide oil market in his op-ed “Energy Markets Limit the Hormuz Shock” (June 3) is right on target. Diversification of energy sources, together with normal supply and demand responses, is limiting the Hormuz shock. We are experiencing pain, but this is clearly not, as many have claimed, a historic energy crisis. Today’s oil prices, adjusting for inflation, are more than 15% below their peak four years ago, indicating that markets worked then and are working now.

Two implications follow. First, whatever Iran’s degree of control over the strait going forward, its incentive will be to keep oil flowing. Continued restrictions on shipments through the strait will erode Iran’s future influence on energy markets, much as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ clout diminished after the shocks in the 1970s. Second, the priority must be eliminating Iran’s nuclear capability rather than reopening the strait: Closing the strait is causing a temporary energy shock, whereas a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a permanent global threat."

Edward A. Snyder

William S. Beinecke professor of economics and management

Yale University" 

Related post:

Energy Markets Limit the Hormuz Shock (2026) 

The Food Stamp Rolls Decline—Hurray

GOP reforms are paying off as more recipients work or volunteer

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"the food-stamp program is now returning to the levels of the bad old days of . . . 2019. Some 42.8 million Americans were enrolled in the program in January 2025, which is more than 12% of the U.S. population. The figure in January 2026 was 38.5 million. The social safety net scholar Angela Rachidi notes the program was “due for a decline” after elevated enrollment during the pandemic."

"those who receive help should hold up their end of the social contract—and work, train or volunteer at least 20 hours a week. That’s the work requirement in the program for able-bodied adults without children."

"those who leave the program because of the expanded work requirement do so for one of two reasons. One: Their earnings increase. That’s good news. Two: They refuse either to work, look for a job, or volunteer at a place like the local library part-time."

"The Agriculture Department ferreted data from 28 states and says it found nearly 186,000 dead recipients. Some 355,000 recipients were enrolled in more than one state." 

A ‘Millionaire’s Tax’ Is a Tax on Main Street

Wealth taxes like Hawaii’s disproportionately fall on small-business owners

Letter to The WSJ. 

"Your editorial “The Tax Collector’s Paradise” (May 28) is right to warn that Hawaii’s new “millionaire’s tax” won’t stop with high-income earners. In reality, higher income tax rates often disproportionately fall on small-business owners whose companies are organized as S corporations, partnerships, LLCs and other pass-through entities.

The consequences extend beyond individual taxpayers. A Stanford University study examining 30 years of Census Bureau data found that increases in individual income tax rates led to job losses, business relocations and even business closures among pass-through firms. Those are real-world costs borne by workers, families and local communities.

Small-business owners feel these pressures firsthand—and the data confirms that. A 2024 survey from the Job Creators Network Foundation found that more than one in four have considered relocating to a state with lower taxes and less regulatory burdens. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve research has found that tax increases make it more difficult for small businesses operating on tight margins to cover expenses, including payroll.

When lawmakers raise income taxes, they aren’t simply taxing income. They are changing incentives for entrepreneurs, investors and employers. Hawaii’s leaders may discover that the people who create jobs and grow businesses have more options than some politicians assume.

Policy matters, and Americans will continue to vote with their feet.

Taylor Gage

Citizens for Free Enterprise" 

We’re Preparing for the Wrong AI Labor Crisis

Mass unemployment is unlikely. AI will reorganize the white-collar corporate workforce, not destroy it.

By Stephen Lewarne. He is a professor of economics at Franciscan University. Excerpts:

"the notion that the economy faces mass technological unemployment doesn’t fit the evidence"

"the broader market continues to show relatively stable aggregate demand for labor. In March, the unemployment rate stood at 4.3%, close to both the Federal Reserve’s estimate of long-run normal unemployment and Congressional Budget Office projections for the coming decade. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 178,000 jobs during the month, while healthcare added 76,000 jobs and averaged roughly 29,000 new jobs a month over the prior year."

"U.S. entry-level job postings have fallen roughly 35% since January 2023, with highly AI-exposed entry-level postings declining more than 40%."

"Employer surveys indicate a substantial shift away from GPA-based screening and toward skills-based hiring. Employers increasingly emphasize demonstrated competencies, project-based experience and practical problem-solving abilities." 

[there is] "a labor-market transition more complicated than conventional automation narratives suggest."