California's Politics, Legislature And Taxes

The gubernatorial position is one of the most admired in the US politics. A study conducted by the New York Times magazines has listed the position as one of the most powerful in the US government and this explains why governors are so powerful. Governors have a number of key responsibilities which may vary from political to general governance. One of the most important things in the governors’ job is serving as the head of the state and being the commander in chief of the state’s military (Bystrom, Robertson & Banwart, 2001). Another important thing is that the governor can make specific recommendations to that lawmakers can adopt in in the statehouses. The position also has an important role of making appointments of members of commissions and boards to oversee the department of the state. While the governor has many responsibilities, these are some of the things that I consider much important of his position.

Based on the nature of these roles and responsibilities serving as the governor may therefore prove a difficult exercise and duty to perform. One of the things that make the position very difficult is that the position is demanding. The governor has to be accountable for the positions that serve under it. The position is also difficult since majority of these duties are commanding. A research done to understand the nature of the position pointed the position to be difficult because there are many position below it and bringing in people together makes the task even demanding (Bystrom et al., 2001). The difficulty in the nature of the jobs points at some of the challenges that the governors face. For example, historical researches have established that immediate challenge when the governor assumes office is putting the strategies in place to solve the state and local policies and issues. Major issues than are often tormenting includes ensuring criminal justice, keeping of the proper culture in the society, ensuring proper, accessible and affordable healthcare, economic affairs such as the budget and taxes, state security, proper education and housing systems that are favorable eve to the poor, environmental issues such as global warming and air quality and even ensuring good social welfare such as proper social security.

As a result, there are pieces of advice that I would offer to the governor. For example, I would advise him/her that having a desired and effective team would help overcome most of these challenges. Also, I would advise the governor to have a deputy governor with shared leadership skills to make their work relationship merge well. This is because most of the governors have decried their deputies to be less effective. Also, I would encourage the governor to maintain high integrity, law-abiding and morally upright about the constitution that serves them. Furthermore, he/she should act as the role model to ensure that a positive path is created for those who serve under him/her.

i. Question Six: Taxes and the State Budget

Taxation is major issue of concern in United States and across other states in the world. For the good of the state, the US has often been forced to revisit and revise its tax system to ensure that it both matches the government needs and is affordable for the citizens. The country has witnessed several tax reforms since the old days and many more changes to the tax system are still being witnessed. One of the major changes that the country has witnessed is the introduction of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which was introduced on 2nd November 2017 (Page et al., 2017). It is a change in tax system that allows a tax credit for employers that provide paid family and medical leave to employees.

This change in tax system is a wise idea for the state because it directly influences the commons in a beneficial way. Since its birth, the idea has made several significant changes both to individual income taxes and estate tax. It also remains a wise idea because it has made several positive changes to the tax rates and base for people’s income tax (Page et al., 2017). The idea is also good for the common man because it reduces the rate of statutory tax across many levels of taxable income making the threshold only to the income tax brackets.

The law is also a wise idea because it repeals the individual and dependent exemptions. In this process, the change has also increased the standard deduction on the individual’s exemption. On the other hand, the change has also had a significant impact on the dependent exemptions where it has increased the tax credit of children as well as creating another tax credit for the dependents which is ineligible for the tax credit for the children. The act has not only touched the CTC in these ways, but has also doubled the maximum credit amount given to each child as of the beginning of 2018 (Page et al., 2017). The change in tax system has also increased the portion of the credit that can be refunded to the bearer. In general, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) has positively impacted the lives of the common making it one of the influential change in tax system in US.

ii. Question One: California Politics

California is one of the states in the United States that has one of the most effective forms of governance (Douglass, 2018). The governance in the state is shaped by the nature of politics practiced in the state. There are several interesting things about the government of California. For example, the government is made up of different entities like local governments, special districts and various interest groups with the leaders serving in these positions duly elected or appointed. Another valuable thing about the state is how the state government is made. The judiciary, executive, and the legislative constitute the state government. These organs are charged with the duty of state handling court case, running the government and making of laws in order of appearance.

Another valuable thing in the government is the role of the local governments which are in charge handling the issues affecting the citizens (Douglass, 2018). Also, bodies such as those of learning institutions are charged with the responsibility of managing institutions of the learning. The districts handle specific roles that fall within each of the districts. Interestingly, Douglass (2018) asserts that there are special bodies that are set to ensure that thee bodies and those serving in such positions act and perform responsibly.

The structure and government of California therefore make me feel that the state has a democratic style of leadership. This is indicated by the existence of the political philosophies with people championing them without government interference. Another marker in California State is the political election, which is constantly polished with furthest straightforwardness (Douglass, 2018). The voters once enlisted are permitted to cast a ballot an up-and-comer of their decision or vote by the gatherings. Furthermore, the declaration of majority rule government in California is detectable on the forces of the residents. The residents in California are a greater amount of governing bodies, as well, as they have the ability to authorize and change a few arrangements, for example, putting legislation on the polling form, a procedure known as Proposition (Douglass, 2018). In general, the state is democratic not only through the constitution but also through activity. All things considered, there are frail zones that still exist that should be altered to guarantee that the state works as it diagrams in its constitution.

iii. Question Three: California’s Legislature

Being one of the states of United States, California state has a bicameral legislature which is made up of two houses; the lower house (80 members) and the upper house (20 members). All the houses of the legislature do hold their sittings together at California State Capital. Assembly members are chosen from all the 80 areas and serve terms of two years. Along these lines, the seats are exposed to races after the multi year time frame. Then again, senate members serve four-year terms and are chosen after each 40 locale (Grodin et al., 2016). As far as possible were set up bypassing of extent 140 out of 1990 and later updated in 2012 whereby the state gatherings are constrained to three terms and the state senate to two terms. Legislation exercises in California pursue a particular stipulated methodology before they are viewed as fruitful. In any case, all the governing body procedures are appropriately recorded and distributed on diaries and sites unmistakably demonstrating who made recommendations and who declined. A bill in the houses is a liable to change, annulment, or add to existing state law, and there exists a gathering bill and a Senate bill. The convention of legislation is partitioned into extremely unmistakable stages, with the primary stage being drafting (Grodin et al., 2016). This is the main stage where a part chooses to creator a bill. The bill is then presented in the house for first perusing, at that point it is exposed to the approach board for endorsement, and on the off chance that it passes, it is taken back to the assembly for second perusing. At this stage, there is little discussion, and the bill might be corrected. The bill is then set for a story vote, and on the off chance that the larger part passes, it is then sent to the second house where comparable strategies are attempted. On the off chance that it passes the subsequent house, it is sent to the representative’s work area (Grodin et al., 2016). The representative either signs it to turn into a law, veto it or enables it to become law without his/her sign inside 30 days.

Despite the fact that great chiefs may at time be chosen, the lawmaking body may at present miss the mark in light of the fact that the administrative framework utilized is less viable on certain grounds. Forces are not plainly characterized while there are holes that make the framework less successful. Thusly, I feel significant issues influencing the state can be a relic of times gone by. In the past races, measurements do show that voters are constantly influenced by the gathering sycophancy or on occasion, choose pioneers as a result of their capacity to give persuading discourses forgetting about certain competitors who are great in activities and can truly carry out the responsibility. I feel that if the state figures out how to choose great pioneers into office, significant issues vagrancy, insufficient occupations, the economy, and even the significant expenses of houses and their inaccessibility can be appropriately tended to.