taxes

In California, efforts to boost funding for road repairs are at odds with the concurrent goal of expanding electric vehicle usage. So how can these two needs co-exist?

The April 15th deadline for filing 2016 income tax returns applies to all American, including President Trump. It is also serving as an occasion for renewed calls for him to make public his past tax documents.

More information about State Sen. Mike McGuire's SB 149 can be found on his website. Read the full text of the bill here.

With new tax rates approved by Sonoma County voters on Tuesday, the local cannabis industry is gearing up to enter—and pay for—their new era of legitimacy.

Sonoma County is grappling with the many complexities of legalizing cannabis, bringing a fast-growing, largely free-wheeling industry under governmental control. Opponents of Measure A, which would tax cannabis businesses here, fear it will cripple the small-scale operations it is out to regulate.

Sonoma County Republicans have officially opposed measure A. The Sonoma County Taxpayers Association took no position, but their Executive Director, Dan Drummond, says he personally is inclined to favor it, despite some misgivings.

  A bid to raise the sale tax and use the revenues for road repairs fell well short of the 50% vote needed for passage yesterday, as anti-government sentiments prevailed in a low-turnout special election.

Sonoma County voters are being asked to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase intended to fund the repair of a thousand miles of local roads.

Measure A would raise more than $102 million dollars over five years, according to the County Auditor’s Fiscal Impact Statement. That, says Supervisor David Rabbitt, would be enough to dramatically affect the current widespread problems.

 Taxes aren’t the only thing due on April 15th; so are ballots in the current mail-in assessment election for the Marin-Sonoma Mosquito, Vector and Disease Control District. But this is not a typical election.

The Mosquito District will hold its only public hearing on the assessment election on the evening of April 15th. Voting will close at the end of that hearing, with the results to be announced on May 13th.

A quarter-cent sales tax increase to fund road repairs across Sonoma County appeared headed for the November ballot, but a proposal to use 10% of the money for public transit is getting some push-back.

The county-wide road tax could be just one of a number of bonds and tax increases facing local voters in November, from schools, cities and Santa Rosa Junior College. The deadline for adding measures to the ballot is August 8.

  Back in the 1970s, Sonoma County’s libraries were open 72 hours per week. That’s down to 40 hours per week now, and library boosters are calling for a sales tax increase this fall to reverse the trend and fend off further service reductions.

  The online petition to support additional library funding in Sonoma County can be found here.

Love the California coast? A check box on your state tax return this year can help it out. Here’s how it works.

Find out more about the Coastal Commission's  Whale Tail grants program here.

  By claiming a simple tax deduction on their federal returns, low income households can save up to several thousand dollars each year. A campaign to facilitate this is currently recruiting volunteers, and hopes to return millions to the local economy.

California’s Proposition 8 and most of the federal Defense of Marriage Act have been invalidated now, and 15 states have legalized same sex marriage. That leaves a complicated legal patchwork for those couples to navigate around such things as such things as social security, divorce law, and income tax filing status.

• Just one week in to the new legislative session, three California Democrats "test the waters" for adjusting Proposition 13