Tax

I’m not feeling particularly rosy this election day. Like a lot of people, I’ve been crunching numbers, gathering receipts and pouring a little more single malt into my glass in order to prepare for one of life’s more unpleasant inevitabilities — taxes. Now that I’m almost done, I think I may need another shot. I worked all year, had approximately 25% of my wages taken out by the taxman, and now that April 15 draws near, I discovered that I still owe a hefty sum to Uncle Sam. In short, any money I managed to save over the course of a very long year of labor will be swallowed up paying more taxes.

CITY HALL — Fiscal conservatives seized upon the dread of tax day Wednesday to protest what they characterized as the overreaching bailout of corporations and the propensity of lawmakers to balance budget gaps on the backs of taxpayers. More than 300 protesters amassed on the steps of Glendale City Hall as part of a nationwide Boston Tea Party-styled campaign to vent over the billions in federal aid spent to prop up corporate giants like AIG and General Motors. Across California, frustrations also extended to the slate of upcoming state ballot propositions hashed out as a linchpin in a deal to close a $42-billion budget gap. On May 19, California voters will decide the fate of Propositions 1A through 1F, which were hammered out between state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of an effort to break a three-month budget stalemate.

GLENDALE — IHOP Corp. paid $11 million to the Internal Revenue Service Wednesday in a settlement over accounting practices, said Stacy Roughan, director of IHOP's investor relations. The amount represents $7.7 million in alleged underpaid taxes and $3.3 million in interest for the years 2001 to 2003, Roughan said. Under the Glendale-based company's old business model, it would charge a fee of about $250,000 to franchise owners, a figure that is lower now. The franchisee, according to a payment plan set by IHOP Corp.

Glendale has experienced several tragic traffic accidents lately. It?s no wonder that reckless driving has been a frequent topic for letter writers to the Glendale News-Press. As an old guy who recognizes his limitations, I?m not happy when I?m being tailgated or honked at while I?m moving at the speed limit on our city streets. It irritates me when the car speeds by on the shoulder or burns rubber passing on the left in front of oncoming traffic. Some observers point to the change in Glendale?

I always thought they were just a nuisance blocking my view of the road ahead. Now, with soaring gas prices reminding me that petroleum is a finite resource, I take personal affront at gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and lumbering motor homes. The horror of speedboats desecrating the serenity of a mountain lake is now intensified in my mind. My memories, acquired as I worked on Ocean Boulevard, of the ear-shattering Long Beach Grand Prix become ever more distasteful as I think of the orgies of gas consumption and of carbon monoxide/dioxide emissions that these auto races entail.

The full impact of Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget on the Glendale Unified School District will not be known until June following a possible statewide election to extend current tax rates for an additional five years, officials said. Without them, the district could see $8.3 million in state funding cuts. "What the governor is proposing is cuts, and really a lot of them," said Eva Lueck, chief financial officer for Glendale Unified. "At least this governor acknowledges that education has been cut more than its fair share.

A Glendale resident who was convicted of cigarette fraud and tax evasion in April 2008 was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in a federal prison. Between January 2002 and June 2005, Avedis Djeredjian, now 41, bought more than 367,960 cartons of cigarettes from North Carolina without adequate tax stamps from California regulators, depriving California of $3.2 million in tax revenue, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. District Court Judge George King also ordered Djeredjian to pay back more than $6.4 million.

Every time a decent, desirable business like Denny's Restaurant tries to enter Glendale, the whiners and snivelers find reasons to reject it. Denny's happens to be a restaurant that would thrive immensely in a multicultural town like ours. I wonder how much city tax revenue the Center Theatre generates when compared to a large contributor like Denny's? Denny's should reconsider and move to Glendale. Thank goodness our current City Council is blessed with some insight about what's good for Glendale.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- Local Rep. Adam Schiff was among a group of moderate Democrats who met with Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday to talk about the federal budget. Known as the "Blue Dogs," the group discussed its opposition to the large tax cut proposed by President Bush. "We're all in agreement in the desirability of tax cuts," Schiff said. However, the Blue Dogs want to allocate money for national defense, paying down the national debt and securing Social Security and Medicare, before deciding how to cut taxes, he said.

CITY HALL — The number of tax-defaulted properties available for city purchase this quarter has jumped significantly, from the usual half-dozen to 22 parcels, according to the county tax assessor’s office. In what officials said was another sign of the worsening economy, the number of properties going into default for delinquent back taxes has produced an unusually large group of prospective land acquisitions for the City Council as part of a periodic report on available land.

Glendale and Burbank school districts are facing structural deficits of $19.5 million and $6 million, respectively, in 2012-13 officials said this week, even if California voters pass a November tax initiative meant to bolster state coffers. The district projections came on the heels of Gov. Jerry Brown's May revision to the state budget, which now includes a $16-billion deficit. The governor's plan to balance the budget depends in part on a tax initiative that will go before voters in November and is expected to generate more than $6 billion in revenue.

Amid mounting evidence that rival states are chipping away at California's movie and TV production business, a coalition of entertainment unions and film industry officials is renewing a push to provide long-term funding for California's popular film tax credit program. But the effort faces an uphill challenge in Sacramento, where lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown are wrestling with a wider-than expected $16-billion budget deficit. California currently sets aside $100 million annually for dozens of projects applying for credits that cover 20% to 25% of qualified production expenses.

The importance of community collaboration in sustaining and bolstering student success at Glendale Community College was President/Supt. Dawn Lindsay's theme Thursday night in her final State of the College address. “This community is a very large small town, and people care about each other and people work together,” Lindsay said. The annual address, created as part of a larger effort to foster ties with stakeholders beyond campus boundaries, attracted several hundred people to the college auditorium, including City Manager Scott Ochoa and education advocate Harry Hull.

Saying voters are entitled to know whether their elected officials are “paying our fair share,” Rep. Brad Sherman(D-Sherman Oaks) on Tuesday released copies of his 2011  federal income tax returns - and challenged his main rival to do the same. “I believe it is extremely important to demonstrate my commitment to transparency during a time of rising cynicism about whether  our nation's political leaders are paying their fair share in taxes,” Sherman said. Sherman is engaged in a tough reelection battle with Rep. Howard Berman (D-Valley Village)

Re: Glendale's water rate increases: The whole tier rate structuring was all about confusing the people and sliding through the back door another tax to the rate payers by paying more money for their utilities. Monthly billing is a sneaky way to make the utility bill appear less expensive, but at the end of the year, our utility bills will be more costly, even with smart meters. Mike Mohill Glendale

We all feel it when gas prices spike. It's a pattern every four years that coincides with elections. Israel threatens to strike Iran, Iran threatens to block oil shipments and presidential candidates spew inflammatory rhetoric. Suddenly, oil companies see a windfall opportunity with prices spiking - a dollar per-gallon in the last month alone. What is different this time is that as a result of our economy, a lot of people have lost their jobs, and those who still have a job haven't seen a raise in years.

State Sen. Carol Liu could do little to assuage fears about funding cuts during a recent address to local education officials, describing them as “heartbreaking.” She also warned of competing November ballot tax initiatives that could end up doing more harm to public school funding. The California Legislature has adopted budgets during the last three years that have resulted in $26 billion in cuts to public services, Liu said during the Glendale Unified school board meeting Tuesday.

A bill was introduced in the state Assembly Thursday to extend by five more years the film and television tax credit program, which proponents say has created more than 20,000 jobs and generated more than $200 million in tax revenues. The bill, AB 2026, was introduced by Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes and co-sponsored by several lawmakers, including Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake). Fuentes introduced a bill last year that extended the program, enacted in 2009, an extra year.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved today an extension of the payroll tax cut through 2012, extended unemployment compensation and prevented a reduction in physician reimbursements under Medicare. After the 293-to-132 vote, Rep. Adam Schiff , who voted for the legislative package, issued a statement, saying he was pleased with the outcome. “While our economy is making definite progress, we still have a long way to go,” Schiff said in his statement. “We can't afford to damage the fragile recovery when millions of Americans are still out of work and millions more are struggling to stay afloat.” He said the payroll tax cut extension will put almost $1,000 a year in the pockets of middle-class families through larger paychecks every month.

In Camille Levee's Jan. 27 letter, “Support for SB 659,” she writes of her thoughts of the value of redevelopment agencies. I believe this is not the proper way to fund such projects. Local government should raise taxes and fees to finance such things. The current funding goes back, I think, to post Proposition 13 thinking. I support the governor on this. Let's do things in a different way. Stuart Ray Glendale