LA CITY POLITICS & LAUSD :
(1) NEW - L.A. city employees' salary database (via City Controller Wendy Gruel): (2) ACTUAL PDF file.
Click above 2 links. Additional content pending.
(1) Gov. Brown unwinding a number of big business tax breaks (LA Times); (2) Prop 13's commercial property tax loopholes:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-budget-business-20110111,0,4631245.story <-- Click Left
...Good to see the above piece in the January 11, 2010 LA Times. Governor Brown should also move on 1978's Prop 13 loophole for commercial property sales. Prop 13 derived caps in property basis/valuation deprive Sacramento of at least $1 billion in potential revenues annually. How so? Proposition 13 essentially caps taxes at 1% of a commercial (or residential) property's assessed value. Its assessed value -- bar an actual sale -- can only go up only by 2% a year. Properties are only market reassessed any time they're sold. Then the 2% annual limit kicks in again. If a property owners uses a single asset dummy corporation that really just owns a particular commercial property (e.g., a retail outlet/shopping mall (a very common scenario)) and then it is sold or merged, but the property stays technically deeded to the shell corporation, then the ownership of the property effectively changes without triggering Proposition 13's provisions for reappraisal. It happens all the time and robs California's tax base of enormous sums. Rick Caruso (Grove), Trizechahn and many other developers have kept tens of of billions in developer/operator profits over the last 30 years with Prop 13's completely unintended commercial property tax loophole.
