It is not a crime for a company to make billions of dollars, or stash those billions of dollars in overseas tax havens, or fail to report that tax benefit to the government. The Bay Citizen calculated that the top 50 Silicon Valley corporations have $225 billion overseas, accumulated through foreign subsidiaries, and all but three of them dodge U.S. taxes by designating the funds “permanently reinvested.”   read more

It’s been a decade since energy companies took advantage of California deregulation to generate price spikes, cause rolling blackouts and rip the state off for billions of dollars. Last week, an administrative law judge for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recommended that a dozen companies that participated in some of those schemes pay back $1 billion to the state as compensation for their misdeeds along with $600 million in interest.   read more

In reviewing audits conducted for eight years, beginning January 1, 2005, State Auditor Elaine Howle estimated that if entities had implemented all the auditor’s recommendations, the state would net $1.5 billion. Her office issued 106 reports between November 2005 and October 2011, which included 1,249 recommendations. As of September 2012, 83% had been implemented.   read more

California housing prices have been trending upward of late, buoying spirits, although not quite as dramatically as last week’s announcement of a sharp drop in foreclosures. But underpinning these changes are record-low interest rates imposed by the Fed, poor fixed-rate returns, low housing inventory, a heavy influx of foreign money and investors looking for property they can rent or flip.   read more

Despite its reputation as never having met a tax it didn’t like, California is the only major energy-producing state that doesn’t levy an oil extraction tax on drillers. Check that. The state does charge an 8-cent-per-barrel tax to cover expenses of the oil and gas industry’s chief regulator, the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation. That is compared to the 25% “severance” tax that Alaska charges, which brings in billions of dollars to state coffers.   read more

When San Francisco was chosen in January 2011 to host the 2013 America’s Cup sailing event, optimistic supporters projected 8,000 new jobs and the infusion of $1.2 billion into the local economy. But fund-raising efforts have come up short and the city is reportedly looking at being left on the hook for $20 million.   read more

California is starting to rack up a big budget surplus; billions from Propositions 30 and 39 loom; and Governor Jerry Brown wants to use this good fortune to direct $1.4 billion more to higher education next year, a 13% increase. The independent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) thinks the governor’s concern for education is a good thing, but his budget proposals for 2013-14 are not.   read more

After testing of a massive state payroll computer system “exposed a system riddled with grave weaknesses,” the State Controller’s Office (SCO) fired the contractor, SAP Public Services, and asked for $50 million back. The 21st Century Project has cost the state $254 million since 2005 and isn’t close to working.   read more

Around 2,000 taxpayers, who thought they had received a great small-business state tax break the past four years, are finding out the break was a mirage and the bill for back taxes is real. The state Franchise Tax Board (FTB) wants $120 million from small-business owners and investors who took advantage of a 20-year-old law to claim a 50% break on the taxable gain on the sale of their stock.   read more

If it weren’t a religious institution, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles might be in a heap of legal trouble for taking $115 million from a cemetery maintenance account to pay clergy sex abuse settlements. But according to the Los Angeles Times, which broke the story, it’s probably legal for the Catholic Church to take money contributed by families for perpetual care—a 15% fee on burial bills at church cemeteries—and use it to defer expenses from the ongoing scandal.   read more

In a political landscape saturated with pitched battles over balancing budgets, offshore tax havens have managed to maintain advantages for corporations and wealthy individuals that cost California and the nation billions of dollars each year. The California Public Interest Research Group’s Education Fund (CALPIRG) calculated that offshore tax havens diverted $39.8 billion from state coffers across the nation in 2011, led by California’s loss of $7.1 billion.   read more

California joined the federal government, 15 other states and the District of Columbia this week in suing Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency for its role in the housing debacle and financial collapse that began in earnest five years ago. California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) were both large investors in mortgage-backed securities and other financial instruments rated by S&P.   read more

The California Department of Education (CDE) has ordered eight school districts to repay nearly $170 million to student meal programs they grabbed to cover their own budget shortfalls over a period of years. In what may be only a “hint” of “ongoing abuse,” a state Senate investigation found that money meant to pay for free and reduced-price meals—often the only decent food low-income students receive—was diverted or spent in a fashion that undercuts the programs.   read more

A report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office said that California lost the Medicaid reimbursement money for a couple of reasons. The court-appointed receiver overseeing the prisons had failed to sign an agreement with every affected county (Medicaid funs come through counties), and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has been unable to process two-thirds of the inmate claims because of software problems.   read more

Cash-strapped California schools, as well as beleaguered school districts across the country, might be much more financially secure if their states hadn’t disposed of the “sacred” trusts given them by the federal government when they joined the union. That’s the conclusion of A Magnificent Endowment: America’s School Land Trusts, a report recently released by the Center for the School of the Future at Utah State University.   read more

Is it a bad sign when the latest slogan of your righteous cause is: “It’s Not Over”? Last week, the folks at Whittier Hills Oil Watch—a group that opposes oil drilling in a nature preserve purchased by the city of Whittier with funds earmarked for conservation—saw their cause granted a small, last-second reprieve by the courts.   read more