| Political establishment fails to take responsibility The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation has released its annual Follow the Money report, once again exposing the failure of California’s public officials to effectively manage the tax dollars sent in by state residents now confronting the annual task of preparing their tax returns. Among the costliest bungles cited in the report was the state’s payment of between $11 billion and as much as $30 billion in unemployment benefits to scammers, including 20,000 criminals currently incarcerated. Additional misspending includes costly, no-bid state contracts for face masks, and an unauthorized $35 million get-out-the-vote contract awarded by then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla to a partisan consulting firm associated with the Biden campaign. “California’s powers-that-be reacted to COVID-19 the same way they always react to a crisis — by wildly spending taxpayer money without any restraint,” said Jon Coupal, Chairman of HJTF. “Much of this spending did nothing to keep people safe from the pandemic, but friends of people in high places will come out of this crisis richer, and taxpayers will be expected to foot the bill.” The Follow the Money report can be found online at HJTA.org by clicking on the “Resources” tab and then on “Studies and Reports.” Click here to read the report. |
Jon Coupal
Jon Coupal is the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA). HJTA, with offices in both Los Angeles and Sacramento, is the largest taxpayers association in California with a membership of over 200,000. Founded by the late Howard Jarvis, the author of Proposition 13, HJTA’s name is synonymous with tax relief and the uncompromising defense of the California homeowner.
From 1991 to 1998, Coupal served as Director of Legal Affairs for HJTA, overseeing the organization’s litigation and lobbying efforts. He is a recognized expert in California fiscal affairs and has argued numerous tax cases before the courts. Coupal also successfully defended Proposition 140, the state's term limit initiative, before the California Supreme Court. In 1995, he won a major ruling before the Supreme Court when it upheld the validity of Proposition 62, an HJTA sponsored initiative guaranteeing the right to vote on local taxes. He is also the principal drafter of Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act, a measure passed by the voters in November 1996. He has served as chairman of several initiative campaigns representing the interests of taxpayers including his most recent battle against Proposition 88, the statewide parcel tax initiative, defeated by the voters in November of 2006. Coupal is also Chairman of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Foundation which provides funding for taxpayer rights litigation and educational studies.
Coupal is a graduate of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, where he received his J.D. degree in 1982. After law school, he was an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation for nine years, specializing in tax issues and political law. He resides in Sacramento, California with his wife Catherine, daughter Elena and son Adam.
View more of Jon's writing in California Commentary.