Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle says he gets a generally positive reaction from people when he explains the reasoning behind the sweeping overhaul of California’s tax system proposed by a blue-ribbon commission on which he served. Problem is, you only can talk to so many people. The Commission on the 21st Century Economy was charged by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with finding ways to reduce the state’s feast-or-famine budget swings that produce gaping deficits. Its recommendations: Eliminate the corporate tax and sales tax (except at the gas pump), reduce the income tax and institute a tax (4% maximum) on business receipts, similar to a value-added tax. None of the recommendations would require voter approval,Prop-osition 13 is left alone. The Wall Street Journal has applauded the commission, but criticism has come from across the political spectrum and reaction from state lawmakers, who would have to pass the reforms, has been icy. Most galling to Pringle have been the objections of major business groups. “Yet they complain about the status quo out in public,” he says. Even Pringle’s pal, OC Biz Council Prez Lucy Dunn, says she can’t support the package: “It ain’t fully cooked. Keep working on it.” Asked the chances that the commission’s recommendations will prevail, Pringle said, “I’m not gonna wager a bet, because I don’t want to spend time betting against myself” …
UC Irvine is the first UC campus with a European-style bike-sharing program. Students, faculty and staff can use and return bicycles at four ZotWheels locations with the swipe of a membership card …
Chapman U’s Brandman University in Irvine hosts a KOCE televised debate Oct. 28 between GOP gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell. Meg Whitman has declined the invitation to join them, but she will be in Newport Beach the evening before for a fundraiser ($10,000 a couple) hosted by Julia and George Argyros …
The Romance the Mission gala drew more than 400 guests and raised $430,000 for Mission San Juan Capistrano …
Greg MacGillivray’s Laguna Beach-based Mac-Gillivray Freeman Films is partnering with conservation group Oceana on “To the Arctic,” a 3-D documentary about climate change near the North Pole; the release is planned for spring 2011. And “Everest,” top-grossing giant-screen film of all time ($147 million in 11 years), has become the third MacGillivray production inducted into the Imax Hall of Fame, joining “To Fly” and “The Living Sea” …
U.S. Bancorp chief and Cal State Fullerton grad Richard Davis makes his second speaking appearance in OC in less than two months on Oct. 27 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. The last one was for UCI, this one is for his alma mater,at Mihaylo Biz Dean Anil Puri’s economic forecast conference. Davis has more than nostalgic reasons to visit OC these days,thanks to its absorption of failed Downey Savings, his Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank now is OC’s fourth-largest commercial bank, with more than $3 billion in deposits.
