'Snowbirds' may have to pay California income tax

[TexasTowelie]

There are few things Republican lawmakers relish more than a good tax cut, but it is a rare conservative who proposes financing one with "soak the rich" economics.

Enter California Republican State Sen. Jeff Stone, whose 28th district stretches from Murrieta to Blythe, including the entire Coachella Valley and whose constituents include many of the region's wealthiest residents—and some of its poorest.

The conservative former mayor of Temecula has introduced what he calls the SMART Act (SB 1353), which would eliminate all California state income tax for individuals making less than $100,000 yearly and for couples with incomes below $200,000. That describes 89% of California and around 95% of the Coachella Valley, according to census data and the Franchise Tax Board. To finance those cuts for the people he describes as "working families," Stone proposes taxing wealthy so-called "snowbirds"—many of them billionaires and millionaires—who live out of state, but own vacation homes in places like Malibu, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells and Palm Springs.

Under current law, second-home owners can spend up to nine months in California as part-time residents and still file income taxes elsewhere. Stone’s SB 1352 would change the criteria so that U.S. residents who are in the state for more than six months would be considered full-time residents and would have to pay state taxes on their full income like the rest of Californians.

Read more: http://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/07/snowbirds-may-have-pay-california-income-tax/404050002/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Hmmm...

[Lucky Luciano]

2. Do the numbers add up? nt

[Historic NY]

3. 9 months isn't really part time....

its 3/4 of the year in other words the majority of time. Tax them, accordingly.

[KT2000]

4. Do I have this right?

My neighbor spends 6 months in CA, and 6 months in WA. WA does not have an income tax and he gets out of paying any CA tax? No wonder there are so many snow birds here in WA.

[msongs]

5. one suspects most snowbirds spend less than 6 months in CA. thus they pay no tax

and since most residents would pay no tax thus the state is starved and services must be slashed. republican thinking

[JayhawkSD]

6. Doesn't it depend on where income is earned?

I can see an expectation to pay CA income tax while living in CA even if the income come from outside the state, but if you live elsewhere for six months, during which you earn income in another state by working in that other state and being paid by people who live in that other state, why would you be expected to pay CA income tax on that income? You are not, during the six months you live elsewhere, using CA resources, driving on CA roads etc, and the income is not derived within the state.

[BigmanPigman]

7. This is coming from a former CONSERVATIVE mayor?

What's the catch?