Monday, November 3

Meathead and the Terminator - Even though he's become a one-man Chamber of Commerce for Sacramento, Governor-elect Schwarzenegger isn't our only celebrity public policy maker. Rob Reiner (actor, All in the Family, director, The American President) is the Chair of the First Five Commission which advocates for universal preschool statewide. Reiner and the California Teachers Association have partnered on a new ballot initiative to change the tax rates for businesses - a win-win proposition that would fund more health and education programs for toddlers, that just happens to create more potential members of CTA. Will taxpayers revolt at any sort of hike? Many would argue that the unintended beneficiary of Prop 13 has been big business, not the simple homeowner. From the little I've heard about the provision of the initiative, it sounds like there could be some stumbling blocks, but I'm inclined to think that a new scheme for taxing business property might not be the most unfair idea out there to help bolster the state coffers.