Arnold Schwarzenegger is back making movies — in New Mexico!
In the film titled, “The Last Stand,” Schwarzenegger stars as a small town border sheriff who left the LAPD with a diminished reputation but soon has to prove himself again. Aspect of art imitating life here, don’t you think?
As governor, Schwarzenegger fought against runaway film production. He sought tax incentives to keep filming in California.
At the time Schwarzenegger backed incentives to keep filming here, film production in the state had dropped over a five year period from 66% of all feature film production taking place in California to just 31%.
All I know is that if Arnold Schwarzenegger were still governor this film would be made in…well, never mind.
California’s 9-9-9 Plan
Much attention has been given to Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan because it is bold and it is simple. The 9-9-9 stands for a 9% national sales tax, 9% flat individual income tax, and 9% flat business tax.
Cain’s plan pretty much mimics another 9-9-9 plan – right here in California.
The individual income tax top rate is 9.3% (unless you’re a millionaire, then its higher) and kicks in at a modest $48,000 of taxable income. The California income tax rate is not flat like Cain’s proposal but that 9.3% covers a lot of state taxpayers.
The sales tax varies within cities and counties but many cities have an 8.75% sales tax rate and were at 9% before the temporary sales tax ended.
The corporate business tax is 8.84%, not quite up to Cain’s 9% level, but close.
I jotted down these numbers on California’s 9-9-9 plan figuring to write a post when I discovered fellow Fox and Hounds contributor Joe Mathews beat me to it. His column a couple of days ago on the site, Prop Zero, spoke of California’s 9-9-9 plan.
According to Joe, “It’s refreshing to hear a presidential candidate — and a Republican one at this – offer such a full-throated defense of a California-style system.”
UC Berkeley Employees Big Political Donors
This item was a surprise: According to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, the largest total donation from one source for President Obama in the 2008 election came not from a corporation or a political action group but from UC Berkeley employees.
They contributed $1.6 million combined to Obama, more than from any other organization.
Do you suppose the birthplace of the free speech movement now agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court that political money equals speech?