Professor Simmons Comments on Budget Issues for Sacramento Bee
Professor Daniel Simmons commented on a legislative proposal to skirt California's two-thirds vote requirement for new taxes in a story in the Sacramento Bee. The proposal, part of an effort by Democratic legislators to resolve the state's budget stalemate in spite of a steadfast resistance to new taxes from Republican colleagues, classified revenue-gathering measures not as taxes but as fees, which require only a simple majority for passage.
The plan, which has since been vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, raised questions as to the legal differences between taxes and fees, and the imposition of revenue increases under Proposition 13 in the absence of a two-thirds majority in the Legislature. Professor Simmons noted. "It sounds an awful lot like a tax to me," he said, and questioned the validity of the revenue increase.
Professor Daniel Simmons also recently spoke on current developments in Federal Income Taxation and taxation of partnerships and corporations at the American Bar Tax Section mid-year meeting in New Orleans. Professor Simmons was on a panel that included his co-author, Professor Martin McMahon from the University of Florida.
Daniel L. Simmons is a UC Davis Professor of Law and a national expert on tax law, with an emphasis on corporate and partnership taxation.