Home>Articles>Senate Democrats Praise Budget Raising Taxes on California Businesses

Senator Nancy Skinner. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)

Senate Democrats Praise Budget Raising Taxes on California Businesses

Legislators should be wary of policies that could further harm low-income households

By Katy Grimes, April 27, 2023 10:19 am

“Senate Democrats praise budget raising taxes on California businesses.” This is our headline.

Here is how Senate Democrats spin their tax increase on California businesses:

“Senate Leader Atkins, Budget Chair Skinner praise responsible budget plan to protect California progress, economy.”

Raising taxes on California businesses is not “responsible,” as businesses are the employers, and already pay a colossal amount of taxes in California. The Cal Chamber calculated Democrats proposal to raise taxes on California businesses will be by “$6 billion with an unprecedented 24% increase in the corporate tax rate.”

Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), “on Wednesday called for a tax increase on major corporations, such as Coca Cola and Walmart, in order to fund middle- and lower-income tax cuts as well as critical infrastructure projects in the 2023-24 budget,” the Sacramento Bee reported.

Evil Coca Cola and Walmart.

Let’s look at some of the larger businesses in California which will be hit with Sen. Skinner’s “responsible budget plan.” These are the employers. When Democrats raise taxes again on the employers, costs will go up, lower wages will be frozen or go down, and/or these employers will have to cut back and employees will be out looking for other work.

Here is a smattering of businesses with the most employees headquartered in California:

  • Safeway
  • Wells Fargo
  • Alphabet
  • Ross Stores
  • CISCO
  • Chipotle Mexican Grill
  • Dignity Health
  • Vons
  • Panda Express
  • Applebees
  • Petco
  • 99 Cents Only Stores
  • Raley’s Family of Fine Stores, Inc.
  • Genentech
  • LA Fitness

All of the businesses above employ 10,000 or more, up to Wells Fargo Capital II which employs 274,000 workers. Ross Stores employs 88,000; Vons markets employ 44,000; Applebees has 28,000 employees; Petco has 24,000 employees; Raleys employs 14,000.

When California’s Democrat politicians push tax increases on these businesses, the results actually reduce wages for lower-skilled, young and female workers, according to the Tax Foundation. “The economic evidence suggests that in the long run, workers and consumers, rather than shareholders, bear a sizable share of the corporate tax burden.”

They also say a 1 percentage point increase in the corporate tax rate increases retail prices by 0.17%.

”The effects on prices were strongest for products that were more likely to be purchased by low-income households, indicating that corporate tax is likely less progressive than commonly asserted,” the Tax Foundation reports.

“The tax increase proposed today by Senate Democrats is unnecessary because of the prudent build-up of the rainy-day fund,” California Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jennifer Barrera said. “Increasing taxes will send the wrong signals to job creators and investors in the state’s economy. Now is not the time to test California’s ability to withstand the impact of an economic downturn or a recession by placing our economic success at risk.”

Indeed.

Here’s how Sen. Nancy Skinner from Berkeley explains the tax increase on California’s employers:

The Senate’s “Protect our Progress” budget plan builds on Governor Newsom’s January proposed budget and serves as a starting point for negotiations with the Assembly and the Governor’s administration. The plan includes $26 billion in solutions and builds total reserves to $38.1 billion.

Among other highlights, the plan provides over $4 billion in tax relief with a 25 percent cut to taxes for small businesses and tax cuts for renters and workers, provides over $3 billion in new ongoing funding for schools and community colleges, $1 billion in ongoing local homelessness reduction funding, and over $1 billion to increase access to child care.

Under the “Protect Our Progress” budget plan, over 99 percent of businesses (more than 1.6 million tax filers) will have their taxes reduced by 25 percent by lowering the current flat corporate tax rate of 8.84% to 6.63% on the first $1.5 million of taxable income.

In addition, about 2,500 of the biggest corporations (just 0.2 percent of all business filers), which have received a 14-percentage point drop in federal tax rates – from 35 percent to 21 percent –  will have this reduction partially reversed at the state level, going from 8.84 percent to 10.99 percent on net income over $1.5 million.

Skinner’s tax increase on the larger employers will pay for:

  • “tax cuts for renters and workers,” who already don’t pay nearly as much as property/home owners and middle class employees;
  • $3 billion in new ongoing funding for schools and community colleges – which already are funded in the state budget;
  • another $1 billion in ongoing local homelessness reduction funding – which has only fueled and funded massive growth in homeless in the state;
  • another $1 billion “to increase access to child care;”
  • expansion of Medi-Cal;
  • expansion for CA Food Assistance;
  • Funding to address sea level rise

The Tax Foundation concludes: “Low-income households were disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn due to the pandemic. As the economy continues to rebound, legislators should be wary of policies that could further harm this group. Instead of increasing corporate taxes, they should consider other options to raise revenue and make the tax code more progressive.”

There is much more at the Senate Democrats’ “Protect Our Progress” Budget Plan.

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13 thoughts on “Senate Democrats Praise Budget Raising Taxes on California Businesses

  1. Prune-face Senator Nancy Skinner, like almost all Democrats in California’s legislature, has never started or run a business. She’d starve without taxpayers supporting her?

  2. “Funding to address sea level rise”. You just knew there had to be something in this for “climate change” bull $hi+. Nancy Skinner has been smoking too much of that Bezerkely weed!

  3. Okay, fine. Have your way with your totalitarian tax tricks this one last time, Dem/Marxist legislators. Then let’s see where we really stand in this state. Return the State of California to clean-enough elections so we can see where we REALLY are. Elections are free and fair in California and elsewhere according to you folks, right? No matter how completely dishonest and rigged they appear to be, right? Anyone who says different is a wingnut wacko, right? Okay, great. Put your money where your mouth is, Dear Dem/Marxist Legislators and Gov Newsom. Repeal Vote By Mail, ballot harvesting, same-day registration, early voting and extended vote counts, and all the rest of the clutter. Dump the Venezuela-style commie voting machines once and for all. Return us to paper ballots, voter I.D., clean and current voter rolls, secure neighborhood polling places with honest County oversight, lock-box chain of custody for ballots, every vote accounted for, same-day results on election day, etc. You know, the way elections used to be until not that long ago. If there is no funny business we should get pretty much the same results we’ve been getting over the last few years, right? How about we just try a return to what we had before in order to remove all suspicion, okay? Nothing to worry about if everything is on the up and up, right? Jury-rigged districts, candidates buying off voters, and other questionable rigging methods can wait for another day. Let’s do some simple, basic election cleanup first.
    When politicians in the cesspool of WASHINGTON D.C. are shaking their heads in disbelief about California’s runaway fraud and corruption and lawlessness (e.g. EDD) it seems like maybe it’s not a good sign for your team. Shouldn’t you CA Dem/Marxist politicians perhaps consider getting your act together before your house of cards collapses? Do you really think you are going to get away with this stuff forever? Who knows, maybe you will, but it’s not looking good at the moment, is it.

    1. Ohhh ShowandTell ,
      Washington D.C. crooks only shake their empty heads because they let go of federal funds to California that otherwise could have been used to piss away in Ukraine ,GOF bio labs in 3rd world countries, CRT grants, D.E.I. grants, ridiculous net zero carbon policy, electric yellow school busses🙄
      Oh and the list goes on…

      They are all thieves as far as I am concerned.
      To think a revolution was partly ignited by a tax on tea!

  4. So “E.T.” Skinner is up to her old tricks again, huh???
    I think the state Constitution should be rewritten to mandate that all legislators complete at LEAST a Bachelor’s level Economics and Finance course, or have managed a business with a payroll for at least 3 years before they can file to run for office….
    The barriers to entry are OBVIOUSLY WAAAAAAY too low….

  5. TRICKLE DOWN TAXATION on the people.

    Democrats like to tax middle class and poor by doing it to businesses, so that they pass it on without being a direct showing its really Democrats passing more tax directly to middle class or poor.

  6. More evidence Nancy Skinner and all are brain dead!
    Brace for more layoffs and business closings!

    1. Gotta find a way to pay for it.
      People have been brainwashed to believe that all businesses are greedy and do not pay “their fair share”.
      That is why braindead Nancy can put her stamp of approval on it.
      As you pointed out, Orwellianism, it gets passed down to the consumer and most affects the lower income, blue collar worker. Less jobs…

  7. I’m so sick of the CA legislators’ careless neglect in recognizing the totality of the state’s budget mess.
    We are already taxed to oblivion and the state continues to spend like there’s no tomorrow. And the condition of CA does not reflect that our tax dollars are doing any real good.
    This tax is insulting and will not benefit tax-paying Californians.

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