Local Government FINALLY Takes A FISCAL Stand!

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

The City of Los Angeles, like many other cities across our great nation, is facing fiscal chaos. Many government agencies are dealing with slashed budgets, cut revenue streams, and lack of strong political leadership.

On Wednesday, City of L.A. officials from the public works commission, denied the permits to Sunset Junction, a 30 year old street festival and one of the city's oldest & most popular music festivals. This event first started as a two day grassroots event to sooth tensions between the area's Latino and gay residents. It has now become known as the "Coachella of the City". It has transformed itself from a street festival that brings tens of thousands of visitors and has a lineup of more than 80 acts, including K.D. Lang, Three Degrees and Ozomatli to name a few.

The ISSUE: A dispute of $260,000 in unpaid fees from the organizers, and not including this year's fees of $140,000.

The city has lost millions of dollars in uncollected debts which include community groups and unpaid parking tickets. Its estimated that the City of Los Angeles last year only collected 53% of money owed to them! In addition, many local residents have complained. A member of the local neighborhood council stated, "The use of the public property for private profit is what really upsets people. That's our streets, our neighborhood, our stores, our coffee shops we can't get to..."

The City of Los Angeles gave the organizing group 48 hours to come up with a $141,000 check to at least cover this year's cost. The group was able to raise $100,000 but could only prove the amount through a fax from a bank account, and not even bring an actual check. L.A. City Public works board president, Andrea Alarcon said, "Fail me once, shame on you. Fail me twice, shame on me. This organization has failed the city time and time again."

The SOLUTION: The City of Los Angeles finally grabbed the bull by the horns and said enough is enough! The city owes it to its taxpayers to put its foot down and protect the coffers of its residents and taxpayers.

The spokesman for L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti, whose district includes the music festival, said it best:

"...the festival organizers tried to flimflam $400,000 from the taxpayers. The fact thaty they came up with a large sum...in just 36 hours, shreds their credibility even more. They should have spent the last 12 months coming up with the full amount."

Taxing Warren Buffett

In today's Los Angeles Times, a great editorial piece was written titled "Taxing Warren Buffet" which discusses how Republican critics are seemingly oblivious that, in many ways, Buffett's tax ideas mirror those of Ronald Reagan.

Believe it or not it has been a quarter of a century since the last comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. tax code. President Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in which:

* the number of tax brackets was reduced
* loopholes here closed
* the top tax rate was lowered
* capital gains were taxed at the same rate as ordinary income

Unfortunately Congress has slowly reinstated loopholes back into the tax code while lowering the tax burden for wealthy people who make money through investments rather than labor. THIS was the basis for Buffett's complaint.

Now its interesting what the current politicians are saying on both side of the aisles! History is cyclical and in the past few years I keep hearing "isn't that what President Reagan did 25 years ago". Read on this LA Times article....but maybe we should learn from our past.



Taxing Warren Buffett

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

Talking CENTS on Tax Reform

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

In today's LA Times, staff writer Anthony York writes about LA Mayor Villaraigosa's most recent trip to Sacramento. He discussed the "third-rail" issues that many politicians do not want to touch, including himself according to his political record.

The mayor called

...for changes in Proposition 13, challenging Governor Jerry Brown and state lawmakers to remove business property owners from some provisions of the groundbreaking 1978 law

according to York. The mayor also called on the state's business leaders to "stand up and come forward as coauthors of a long-term solution" to California's ongoing financial problems.

Some of the responses by California's business leaders were not all that positive. The CEO of the CA Chamber of Commerce, Alan Zaremberg called Villaraigosa's speech

...about raising taxes on business. It's exactly the oppposite of what we want to happen to pull California out of recession.

As the LA mayor begins his retoric on "reform and change" for his sites for a possible run for governor, will he actually or anyone for that matter stand up and lead California and the rest of this nation to actual reform? If this interchange of dialogue between the government and business sector is any indication, it unfortunately does not look good! So where is the leadership hiding??

I've Joined Hispano Bloggers

You can see articles written by other Hispanics in the conservative movement here.



Also, Check out this great article on American Exceptionalism by Richie Matthews and Lucía Matthews.



Jaime Rojas, Jr.

Meet me at my Live Book Signing

Meet me in person at his live book signing party at USC!

USC book signing on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
7-9pm (details at www.latrojans.com)

How to Market Yourself In Your Industry

Discussion with Jaime Rojas Jr.

$20 ($10 for Club Patrons)

signed book, appetizers, drinks

Widney Alumni House

Wed, May 18, 7-9 pm

Join author, businessman and USC alumnus, Jaime Rojas, Jr. in a discussion on how to market yourself. Jaime recently published The Conservative’s Pocket Constitution, and will discuss how he uses his expertise in government to market himself. Topics include:

· Why write a book if that is not my business?

· How to market yourself & your business.

· Importance of networking & building relationships.

· The role of government in our business.

Jaime founded The Strategic Group which specializes in community & public relations, communications, government relations and marketing. Clients include California Air Resources Board, City of Las Vegas, GenCorp Aerojet, The White House, China Shipping, Port of Long Beach, A&F. He will be teaching a seminar on government relations & lobbying at USC.

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

My New Book is Now Available in Nook and Kindle Formats!

My New Book is Now Available in Nook and Kindle Formats!

You can get the paperback, Kindle or Nook version now.

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

Speaking Event for Jaime Rojas, JR.

Title: Using Your Expertise to Market Yourself in Business: A discussion with author, businessman, and USC alumnus, Jaime Rojas, Jr.

 

 

Date: Wednesday, February 16

Time: 7:00-9:00 PM
Location: USC Widney Alumni House
Address: 635 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Price: $20/$10 (Includes book, appetizers, drinks)

Description: Join author, businessman, and USC alumnus, Jaime Rojas, Jr., in a discussion on how to market yourself and your business, whatever your industry is, and use that to showcase yourself. Jaime Rojas, Jr. has recently published his book, The Conservative’s Pocket Constitution, and will discuss how he uses his expertise in government to market himself. Some of the topics will include:

1. The importance of networking and building relationships.
2.  How to market yourself and your business.
3.  The role of government in our business.
4.  Why write a book if that is not my business?

 

  

Jaime founded the company, The Strategic Group, which specializes in community and public relations, communications, government relations, and marketing. He is also the former president/CEO of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, the largest state chamber in the country, where he advocated for business rights. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in public administration from USC. Jaime will be also teaching a seminar on government relations and lobbying this semester at USC.

 

 

Through years of direct project experience, Jaime has assisted a wide range of business and non-profit clients in reaching their goals. Jaime has business contacts and clients all over the world. Some of the clients Jaime has worked for include:

 

• The California Air Resources Board
• The City of Las Vegas
• GenCorp Aerojet
• The White House
• China Shipping
• The Port of Long Beach
• Abercrombie & Fitch

 

Attendees will receive a signed copy of Jaime’s book, The Conservative’s Pocket Constitution.

 

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

My Book Signing At UOP Widney Alumni House

I have been invited to do a book signing for The Conservative's Pocket Constitution at the UOP Widney Alumni House
. Everone is welcome to attend.

2/16/11 7 p.m. at the Widney Alumni House
University of Southern California
635 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089

I hope to see you there!

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

The Conservative's Pocket Consitution

The Conservative's Pocket Consitution is now available for pre-order on Amazon!I'm very pleased and excited that this project is coming together so quickly.

Jaime Rojas, Jr.

False Social Security Numbers and Identity Theft Cost American Taxpayers Over 300 Million Dollars a Year!

In another egregious example of fraud that affects us all, The Treasury Inspector General (TIGTA) released the figures today for the fraud related to people who use false Social Security Numbers, or duplicate Taxpayer Identification Numbers.

Everyone that files a tax return must use a Social Security Number (or Tax ID number). For the majority of filers, the Tax ID Number is the individual’s Social Security Number. A Social Security Number cannot be used on more than one tax return per year. However, identity thieves, scammers, and fraudsters often file tax returns using other people's Social Security numbers, in order to receive false refunds.

This is a widespread problem, and leads to a huge amount of govenment fraud.

TIGTA estimates that individuals inappropriately received at least $380 million in tax credits in TY 2007 as a result of this fraud. A large portion of this ends up being false refunds, paid out to people that are gaming the system by using other's Social Security Numbers.

TIGTA identified false TINs were used on over 3.2 million tax returns in 2007. Over five years, erroneous exemptions and credits could exceed $1.9 billion. Almost 2 billion dollars!

The solution is simple-- when the IRS discovers that someone is using multiple Social Security Numbers, then a notice should go out immediately. The taxpayer needs to be notified that his or her Social Security Number is being used by others. In addition, the IRS should establish processes to recover the tax refunds that were erroneously paid to fraudsters who used a stolen TIN. Of course, some of these are honest errors, such as someone simply keying in the wrong number. But the majority of these instances are fraudulent, pure and simple.

The IRS response to the TIGTA report was lukewarm, at best. In its response, The IRS did not agree to expand the issuance of notices to individuals involved with multiple TIN uses. In addition, the IRS did not agree to expand its processes to recover erroneous refunds resulting from an ITIN.

Why not? Why isn't the IRS doing more to stop this type of fraud? The amount recovered by simply addressing this problem could save the IRS and individual taxpayers millions of dollars, and also help curb the rampant crime of identity theft.

The IRS needs to work with law enforcement and with taxpayers to help solve this problem, which is growing every single year. Another example of government waste that has an easy solution, if the government would just get off their high horse and fix it!






Jaime Rojas, Jr.