Sin taxes are all the rage these days – with votes pending to tax cigarettes an extra dollar per pack in the state of California to a proposed license fee in Richmond, California, on businesses selling sweetened drinks. So it makes me wonder, just for fun: What’s your vice? And would you be willing to…
If New York City Mayor Bloomberg gets his way, it will soon be a lot more expensive to light up in California. Yes, that Mayor Bloomberg, the same one that proposed a ban on sugary sodas this week. And yes, that California, three thousand miles away from New York City. On Tuesday, California voters will…
On April 2, One L. Goh allegedly went on a shooting spree inside Oikos University in Oakland, California, killing seven students. That same day, federal agents were otherwise occupied, raiding a business less than a half a mile away. That business, Oaksterdam University, is a medical marijuana training school in a location where it is…
Our next tax trivia question is: Cristina Warthen (née Cristina Schultz), now married to Ask Jeeves founder David Warthen, is a Stanford Law School grad who grossed more than $300,000 working as a hooker in California under the name “Brazil.” She escaped prosecution for prostitution but admitted to hiding money from the taxing authorities by stashing funds…
Our culture is fascinated with marijuana. We speak in hushed tones about cocaine and other “hard” drugs but we’re pretty outspoken about marijuana. It’s even become a question bandied about during presidential campaigns with former President Bill Clinton famously saying that he “didn’t inhale and never tried inhaling again” prompting one MTV viewer to ask…
So who didn’t see this coming? With the ink barely dry on California’s internet sales tax deal with Amazon, other states are chatting up a similar idea. Even states that were willing to sit this one out – like Florida – are beginning to talk. An Op-Ed in The Ledger is suggesting that California’s coup may…
Talk about down to the wire… The Amazon deal is so fresh (it was passed after 10pm last night) that you can’t find much in the way of confirmation yet on the web. In fact, the California legislature has the bill, AB 155, listed as “in assembly” since the vote taken on yesterday is still…
Yesterday, the web lit up early (including on my site) with commentary about Amazon.com’s supposed tax deal with the State of California. And then… crickets. The deal was supposedly hammered out on late Wednesday but no solid details about the controversial plan were released. Representatives on both sides weren’t all that chatty but indicated that…
So wow. Granted, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night due the storms in my area (stay safe, Philly!) but I was rubbing my eyes at the headlines this morning for another reason: Amazon may be cutting a deal with the State of California. It’s being widely reported that Amazon may be close…
My oldest daughter is an over-achiever. Point in fact: she was doing her book report this morning (it’s due September 19) even though she doesn’t have the book yet. She was coming up with a concept, you know, just so that she’d be ready. The missing book was quite the point of contention. It wasn’t…