{"id":13612,"date":"2024-05-29T22:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13612"},"modified":"2024-05-29T22:00:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T19:00:15","slug":"walters-newsom-shuns-tax-increases-yet-budget-levies-billions-on-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/?p=13612","title":{"rendered":"Walters: Newsom shuns tax increases yet budget levies billions on businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(AP Photo\/Rich Pedroncelli)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGov. Gavin Newsom unveils his revised 2024-25 state budget in Sacramento on May 10, 2024.\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Gov. Gavin Newsom\u00a0unveiled a much-revised 2024-25 state budget\u00a0this month, he became visibly irritated when reporters pressed him about raising taxes to cover a $44.9 billion deficit, particularly the corporate tax hikes that\u00a0left-leaning groups have suggested to avoid spending cuts in health, welfare and education programs.\u201cWhen considering the 8.84 % corporate tax \u2013\u2013 which is the highest, arguably, depending on how you analyze it, in the country \u2014 no, I\u2019m not prepared to increase taxes,\u201d Newsom replied. \u201cWe have among the highest tax rates in the United States of America for high wage earners, we have among the highest tax rates, as I noted, for corporate taxes. \u2026 I feel strongly that we have to live within our means.\u201dHowever, the fine print of\u00a0Newsom\u2019s budget contains several indirect tax increases on businesses \u2014 mostly by reducing offsets of taxable income \u2014 that over the next few years would raise as much as $18 billion.That number comes from the\u00a0California Taxpayers Association, which pulled together tax-related items from the budget and the dozens of budget trailer bills submitted to the Legislature. It approximates the\u00a0$6 billion year in income and sales taxes\u00a0that Newsom\u2019s predecessor, Jerry Brown, persuaded voters to approve in 2012 to close an earlier deficit.The biggest, in terms of financial impact, would eliminate the ability of corporations with annual revenues over $1 million to deduct net operating losses from their taxable incomes and limit business tax credits to $5 million a year. CalTax estimates it would increase corporate tax revenue by $15.9 billion over the next four years.It would not be the first time that the state has limited or eliminated the net operating loss deduction, a history that the Legislature\u2019s budget analyst, Gabe Petek,\u00a0cited in an analysis of the maneuver.The deduction, Petek said, \u201callows businesses to smooth profits and losses such that businesses with similar profits over time pay similar taxes. Without this smoothing, businesses in riskier or more innovative industries \u2014 such as the technology, motion picture, and transportation sectors \u2014 could end up paying more taxes than businesses with similar but more stable profits. As such, suspending NOL deductions would lead to a less equitable tax system.\u201cShould the governor\u2019s proposal take effect, the state will have disallowed NOL deductions in nearly half of years between 2008 and 2027,\u201d Petek continued. \u201cAt this rate, it seems reasonable to ask whether suspensions have begun to meaningfully undermine the purpose of allowing NOL deductions in the first place.\u201dThe second largest \u2014 and perhaps most intriguing \u2014 indirect tax increase Newsom proposes is to overturn a recent decision of the state Office of Tax Appeals\u00a0favoring Microsoft in a complex, years-long dispute with the Franchise Tax Board\u00a0over the tax treatment of foreign earnings.In effect, the appeals panel declared that the Franchise Tax Board erroneously applied state law on taxing multinational corporation earnings. The FTB estimates that it could cost the state $1.3 billion in refunds immediately and hundreds of millions more in future years.administration\u2019s trailer bill\u00a0would nullify the ruling by declaring that the FTB correctly applied the law. It would be in effect retroactively and potentially allow the FTB to promulgate new regulations to enforce without going through the normal rule-making processes.In addition to its fiscal impacts, the legislation sets a questionable precedent\u00a0of retroactively changing tax laws after taxpayers have won appeals. Such ex post facto legislation undermines the integrity of the tax system.If nothing else, Newsom\u2019s proposals underscore again the premise that declaring who or what is taxed is an arbitrary political act, not a rational exercise.Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.<\/em><\/p>\n