IRS makes free tax return program permanent

• May 30, 2024

By Fatima Hussein | The Associated Press

The IRS said Thursday it will make permanent the free electronic tax return filing system that it experimented with this year and is asking all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help taxpayers file their returns through the program in 2025.

The IRS tried the Direct File project for the 2024 tax season on a limited basis in 12 states for people with very simple W-2s, the employee’s wage and tax statement.

The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in California, Arizona, Massachusetts and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the IRS will report later this year on how many states plan to participate in the program in 2025.

The IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It gave the IRS nine months and $15 million to report on how such a program would work.

“The IRS has been underfunded for decades, so taxpayers haven’t gotten the support they deserve,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters in a call Thursday. “Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re changing this.” The IRS is part of the Treasury Department.

Since the Direct File trial began in March, more than 140,000 taxpayers used it to file their tax returns, claiming more than $90 million in refunds, agency officials said.

Werfel said expanding the program will provide another filing option to taxpayers and “fits squarely into the IRS’ effort to make taxes as easy as possible for Americans, including saving time and money.”

“We know there is more analysis to do, but we feel that we have enough information at this point to make the decision,” he said. “And an early decision on 2025 is critical for planning -– both for the IRS and for additional states to join the program.”

The IRS has face intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software and have spent millions lobbying Congress. The average American typically spends about $140 preparing their returns each year.

For the Direct File program to keep growing, it will need continued funding under the Inflation Reduction Act, which initially included $80 billion for the IRS. Some of that has since been diverted by lawmakers to other programs.

House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress last summer. A separate agreement will take an additional $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years to divert to other nondefense programs.

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​ Orange County Register 

Remember Bill Walton, basketball great and homeless policy expert

• May 30, 2024

When Bill Walton passed away on Monday, fans recalled the UCLA star, two-time NBA champion, and one of the great centers of all time. Walton became a broadcaster and last year he called a foul on misguided government policies in San Diego, the same policies now causing misery across California.

“I love San Diego and it breaks my heart what’s happening to it now,” said Walton a 27-minutes speech last October.  The dream had become a “nightmare” and the city faced an “existential challenge.”

Balboa Park, near Walton’s residence, is “not safe,” and “downtown for same reason.” Bike trails were jammed with trash and the Embarcadero “a travesty.” For Walton, this was due to homeless people who failed to grasp “the first thing you learn in life – clean up after yourself.” As Walton saw it, the homeless were also into criminality.

“They steal everything,” Walton said, including water, electricity, and “our mail.” This forced Walton to “call the police every single day.” In his speech, he called out career politicians who “never had another job,” especially San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. He had done “a lot of preaching” but had “no plan whatsoever.”

Gloria had “instructed our police force to not enforce the rules on homeless people. That is unacceptable.” On the other hand, it wasn’t quite true that Gloria had no plan. He was an advocate of the Housing First policy of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“‘Housing First’ is not working, has never worked, and will not work,” contended Walton. If Californians have doubts, economist Lawrence McQuillan shows why Newsom’s plan is not working.

Only Hawaii surpasses California as the most expensive place to build housing, and it takes about five years “from concept to move-in.” This expense, largely due to excessive regulation, has saddled California with a “severe housing shortage.”

Housing First makes few demands on the homeless themselves, and crowds out both shelter space and treatment solutions. For every person housed under the current plan, “up to four more become newly homeless.”  Simply putting a roof over the head of people with substance abuse and mental illness “does not resolve their root causes of homelessness and may make matters worse.”

Housing First, McQuillan has explained, is “a misguided, budget-busting, Sisyphean pipe dream of the state’s political class, which has produced concentrated urban areas of human misery such as The Jungle (San Jose), Skid Row (Los Angeles), the Tenderloin (San Francisco), and Wood Street (Oakland).”

Squalor also prevails in many parts of Sacramento and San Diego, once billed as “America’s Finest City.”

Like McQuillan, Bill Walton supported high-tech shelter tents as a stop-gap measure, but the “political will” is not there. With the departure of Walton, the city, state and nation have lost an eloquent advocate for common-sense policies. Still, there’s more about him people should know.

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Walton was a big fan of Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis, “a combination of Kareem, Larry Bird, and Pete Maravich.” Before 1991, the Lithuanians were forced to play for the Soviet Union. They wanted to field their own national team for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, but their country lay in ruins. Golden State Warriors assistant coach Donnie Nelson sought out the Grateful Dead.

The group’s foundation cut the Lithuanians a big check and had their logo designer send a box of tie-dyed T-shirts in Lithuania’s national colors, with an image of  a skeleton dunking a basketball. The Lithuanians defeated Russia for the bronze medal and the victors posed in their T-shirts.

In 2011, when Sabonis was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he asked Bill Walton to be his presenter. Before the ceremony, Sabonis slipped Walton one of the original T-shirts from 1992. For Walton, a huge Grateful Dead fan, “It was as emotional and powerful of a moment as I’ve ever had in my life.”

It was a life like no other. Rest in peace big fella.

Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland. 

​ Orange County Register 

Kings add assistant Newell Brown to Jim Hiller’s staff

• May 30, 2024

The Kings have hired former Ducks assistant coach Newell Brown to join newly promoted coach Jim Hiller’s staff, the team announced Thursday in a news release.

After Hiller’s February promotion to interim head coach, he continued his duties running the power play. With the removal of that interim tag, the man-advantage maestro will now be Brown, who will also work with the Kings’ forwards. D.J. Smith, who was fired as head coach by the Ottawa Senators last season, joined the Kings when Hiller was promoted, and will stay on to run the penalty kill and defense corps.

Brown, 62, began his coaching career at his alma mater, Michigan State University, in 1987, later making the leap to the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1996. He also spent time with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Arizona Coyotes, as well as two tenures with the Vancouver Canucks, one that included a pair of Presidents’ Trophy wins in 2011 and 2012. He had three separate stints with the Ducks, one that encompassed their 2007 Stanley Cup triumph.

Most recently, he served under Dallas Eakins for two campaigns and Greg Cronin for one with the Ducks, though the Ducks opted not to renew his contract this spring. When Brown rejoined their staff in 2021, they had just produced an NHL all-time-worst 8.9% power-play percentage the year prior, when Brown’s Canucks also struggled, finishing 25th in the league.

Though inconsistent personnel on what were arguably undermanned units even when fully healthy mitigated some of its toothlessness, the Ducks’ power play remained fairly feeble. It produced the NHL’s sixth worst by conversion rate over the course of three seasons. It finished with the second-worst percentage in 2022-23, rebounding somewhat to finish seventh from the bottom last year.

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Brown has been known as an innovator of zone entries that incorporate drop passes, backward dishes designed to create space and speed for a trailing puck carrier. Kings wingers Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala have often executed such plays effectively.

The Kings had endured years of futility on the power play, even as they were winning championships in 2012 and 2014 –– from 2010-11 until Hiller came aboard in 2022-23 they ranked 26th among 32 franchises –– but Hiller helped them attain a clip that tied for the second highest single-season conversion rate in recorded franchise history. The NHL has kept official records of power-play percentages from the 1977-78 season onward, a decade after the Kings joined the league.

Last season, the Kings slipped from fourth to 12th in the NHL, though they cashed in more efficiently than all but seven other prior Kings teams. The playoffs were a nightmare, however, as they went from scoring on a third of their opportunities in the 2023 postseason to going 0-for-12 in 2024.

​ Orange County Register 

Horse racing notes: Big City Lights tries to extend streak at Santa Anita

• May 30, 2024

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Thursday)

Jockeys / Wins

Antonio Fresu / 21

Juan Hernandez / 20

Umberto Rispoli / 18

Kyle Frey / 17

Edwin Maldonado / 15

Trainers / Wins

Mark Glatt / 11

Phil D’Amato / 11

Steve Knapp / 10

Doug O’Neill / 10

John Sadler / 9

WEEKEND STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $200,000, Grade II Triple Bend Stakes, 4-year-olds and up, 7 furlongs

• $100,000, Grade III Honeymoon Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/8 miles on turf

Sunday

• $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes, fillies and mares, 4 and up, 6 furlongs

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Santa Anita’s stakes Saturday have horses trying to climb the class ladder. Big City Lights (Kyle Frey riding), winner of the Grade III Palos Verdes Stakes last time out, shoots for a third win in a row in a four-horse edition of the Grade II Triple Bend. Shiloh’s Mistress (Umberto Rispoli) and Circle of Trust (Antonio Fresu), second and third to Medoro in the Grade III Providencia, seek a first stakes win in the Grade III Honeymoon.

• Art Wilson, the horse-racing writer for this and other Southern California News Group papers who died Feb. 18 at age 71, will be honored with a race named for him at Santa Anita on Sunday.

• Santa Anita named Jeff Siegel morning-line oddsmaker to succeed Jon White, who announced his retirement effective at the end of this season June 16. Siegel is a widely respected handicapper who has made selections for the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune as well as on track websites and TV shows.

•  Juan Hernandez was Santa Anita’s hottest jockey last week, riding six winners to move up to second in the standings. Hernandez won the Crystal Water Stakes with Kings River Knight and the Snow Chief Stakes with Shady Tiger among four victories Saturday, and the Santa Margarita Stakes with Adare Manor on Sunday.

• Up To Party is the fastest qualifier for the June 16 Ed Burke Million Futurity at Los Alamitos after running 350 yards in 17.583 seconds in one of 12 trials Sunday. Up To Party and Fear N Fridays (17.77) were both ridden by leading quarter-horse jockey Armando Cervantes; they and Laredeaux (17.831) were saddled by top quarter-horse trainer Monty Arrosa.

• The Belmont Stakes on June 8 is the target for at least a dozen, according to reports. Confirmed are Preakness winner Seize the Grey, Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone, Honor Marie and Dornich. Under consideration are Derby winner Mystik Dan, Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna, Fierceness, Tuscan Gold, Antiquarian, Batten Down, Mindframe, Protective and The Wine Steward.

• Frustration continues at Golden Gate Fields as the Albany, Calif., track nears its final day June 9. There’s no racing Friday, making it the sixth card to be canceled in April and May because too few horses were entered.

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• The Santa Anita maiden race won by Eagles Flight, half-brother of 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline, was delayed a few minutes Monday. Jockey Flavien Prat came out in the wrong silks and had to change to the tan and green of Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Equine, the 3-year-old’s breeder and part-owner. “I thought it was important to have that corrected,” trainer John Sadler said. “That was part of the original plan with the breeder, that he was going to run in her silks.”

• The Chosen Vron’s connections were presented the trophy for winning the Thor’s Echo Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday by Doug O’Neill, who trained Thor’s Echo to his 2006 Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory. O’Neill expressed admiration for The Chosen Vron, the 6-year-old California-bred star. “He’s truly an exceptional horse, isn’t he?” O’Neill said. “Those horses are like Mick Jagger in the music world. They put on their pants the same way as we do, but just the way they carry themselves is unique.”

— Kevin Modesti

​ Orange County Register 

Disney plan calls for investing up to $17 billion in Florida parks

• May 30, 2024

Florida’s tourism oversight district is poised to adopt a new development agreement with The Walt Disney Co. that officials say will bring up $17 billion of investments at Disney World over the next 10 to 20 years.

The district’s board will take up the plan on Wednesday, addressing a key source of contention between Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney.

“With Walt Disney World’s substantial investments, we anticipate economic growth, job creation, and support for local businesses, alongside environmental stewardship and workforce housing initiatives, benefitting Central Florida’s community,” Stephanie Kopelousos, administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, said in a prepared statement.

In the 15-year agreement, Disney pledges to fund at least $10 million in affordable housing projects and create a local business hiring program that would award a minimum of 50% of the value of all construction work to Florida-based businesses.

District officials say they have agreed to continue providing infrastructure to support Disney’s growth. Both parties would have to consent to changes to the plan, according to the district.

Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The agreement covers about 17,300 acres owned by Disney, according to a legal announcement. It authorizes a maximum of five major theme parks, one more than Disney operates in Central Florida now. Company officials have not announced a fifth theme park.

It also allows a maximum of five minor theme parks, such as a water park, nearly 1.3 million square feet of office space, 1.7 million square feet of restaurant/retail space and 53,467 hotel rooms.

The proposed plan comes after Disney and the district agreed in March to settle a lawsuit in state court over development issues.

The settlement said development agreements and covenants approved by a Disney-friendly board shortly before a state takeover in February 2023 are null and void.

The district agreed to “consult with Disney” while reviewing and amending a 2020 plan, according to the settlement.

Disney recently announced it will invest $60 billion into its cruise lines and theme parks around the world, setting off speculation that the entertainment giant could be eyeing a fifth Orlando theme park. Disney’s competitor, Universal Orlando, is set to open a new theme park, Epic Universe, in 2025.

After the settlement, both sides signaled they were ready to work together on economic development.

The proposed plan seems to be a positive for Central Florida, said Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor and author of the book “Married to the Mouse” on Disney World’s origin story.

“We’re possibly seeing CFTOD [Central Florida Tourism Oversight District] starting to do what they’re supposed to do: building things, not just complaining about things,” he said. “Central Florida will be better off for it.”

State Sen. Linda Stewart, a critic of the district, said her concerns have lessened as of late, and the development agreement appears to be another sign of improved relations between Disney and state officials.

“Things have been a little smoother over there,” the Orlando Democrat said. “The board hasn’t decided on their own without consultation we are doing this and that. That’s not what is happening now. There is more cooperation.”

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has played a starring role in DeSantis’ nationally watched battle with Disney. Formerly known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney used it for decades to effectively self-govern its Central Florida theme parks and resorts. A 1967 arrangement allowed Disney to elect the district’s five-member board, giving it control.

The Disney-DeSantis feud started in 2022 when the company opposed what critics called the “don’t say gay” law, which limited classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation.

DeSantis attacked Disney as a “woke” corporation and vowed to end what he called “special privileges” the company enjoyed in Florida. Disney vowed to work to get the law overturned and paused its political giving in Florida.

Last year, the Legislature upended that arrangement and gave the governor the power to appoint the district’s board members. In February 2023, DeSantis replaced Disney loyalists on the board with Republican allies.

When the new DeSantis-aligned board members took over, they discovered their predecessors had approved agreements and covenants limiting the new board’s authority over development. That sparked a power struggle and led to the lawsuit seeking to undo the agreements.

A separate lawsuit filed by Disney against DeSantis and state officials is pending in federal court. Disney asked an appeals court for a delay in that case to “facilitate” negotiations.

The deadline to file an opening brief was pushed back from April 17 to June 17.

​ Orange County Register 

The state of policing in the IE: Killing teenagers, mismanaging jails and torturing innocent people

• May 30, 2024

Policing in the Inland Empire has been generating a lot of headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent months.

In April, after 18 months of stonewalling, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department finally released footage of the 2022 killing of 15-year-old Savannah Graziano. Graziano was gunned down as she followed orders from a deputy to approach him in broad daylight.

Thanks to the work of independent journalist Joey Scott and the First Amendment Coalition, we know now that Sheriff Shannon Dicus was plainly wrong when he said at the time of the killing, “Evidence suggests that Savannah Graziano was a participant in shooting at our deputies.”

Riverside County, meanwhile, made national news a couple of weeks back following  a New York Times investigation into the 2020 killing of Christopher Zumwalt in the county’s jail system.

“Video from inside a Southern California jail shows a violent confrontation in October 2020 in which 10 sheriff’s deputies burst into the cell of a man who was having delusions and resisting medical care, restrained him and repeatedly shocked him, leading to his death days later,” the Times reported.

The resulting lawsuit resulted in a $7.5 million settlement agreed to this past December by the county.

Sheriff Chad Bianco defended those responsible. It’s no wonder his sheriff’s department continues to accrue lawsuits related to jail deaths.

Most recent is the reporting by the Southern California News Group’s Tony Saavedra on the Fontana police department’s bizarre psychological torture of Thomas Perez Jr., who was forced into giving a false confession that he had killed his father. His father was in fact alive.

A U.S. district judge had ruled that “a reasonable juror could conclude that the detectives inflicted unconstitutional psychological torture on Perez,” who received a $900,000 settlement.

In a just society, those responsible for these gross injustices would be held directly liable for what they have done. Abusive officers would be fired with no great difficulty. And stories like those here would be a rarity, not a norm.

Alas, we are far from that. The pressure must be kept on law enforcement to improve. We will all lose if they don’t.

​ Orange County Register 

Southern California home prices hit record $760,000 with sales at 19-month high

• May 30, 2024

Southern California home prices hit a new high in April as homebuying ran at its fastest pace in 19 months.

The record $760,000 median selling price for the region comprising Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties was up 2% from March and up 7% in a year, says a report by CoreLogic released Thursday, May 30.

The six-county region’s completed sales of 16,751 residences – existing and new houses, townhomes and condos – was a gain of 8% for the month and an 11% increase in a year. The sales tally was the highest since September 2022.

Yet this is no buying boom, historically speaking. Despite the jump in purchases, it was still the fifth-slowest selling April in data stretching back to 1988. And it’s 27% below the average April sales over the past 37 years.

Southern California homebuying has stagnated during the past two years as affordability challenges ballooned amid rising prices and costlier mortgage rates.

Remember, the Federal Reserve began raising the interest rates the central bank controls in March 2022. That month, the average 30-year mortgage rates was 3.76%. This April, the rate was 6.99%.

As a result, only 15% of Southern Californians had the financial muscle to pull off a home purchase in early 2024, according to California Association of Realtors estimates. Two years earlier, as the Fed was starting to act, local affordability was 24%.

Consider that a typical Southern California house hunter buying April’s median-priced home at current mortgages rates would have a $4,041 monthly loan payment, assuming a 20% down payment. Not only is that the third-highest payment on record, it’s up 26% in two years.

Home prices have remained stubbornly high because the relatively small group of qualified house hunters are bidding up prices from a thin supply of listings. Southern California had 2.6 months worth of homes for sale in April, according to Realtors’ supply data. That’s up from 2.5 months a year earlier but well below the 3.7-month average in pre-pandemic 2018-19.

By the slice

Think about where the biggest sales gains were within three Southern California homebuying niches.

Sales of newly constructed homes were up 18% in a year to 1,240. Builders’ median sales price was $645,500 – the cheapest of these three slices and down 8% in a year. That pricing helped builder’s share of the market grow to 7.4% of all Southern California sales versus 7% a year earlier.

Sales of another relative bargain – existing condos – were up 14% to 3,562. April’s median was $685,000, up 9% in a year.

And there was a 9% gain for the priciest slice – existing houses with 10,736 sold. April’s $840,000 median was up 11% in a year.

Counting counties

Prices in five of the six local counties reached all-time highs in April. All had price and sales gains for the month and the year. Here’s how they fared …

Orange: Record $1.2 million median was up 4% in a month and up 22% in a year. Sales of 2,282 were up 7% in a month and up 12% in a year. It was fifth-slowest April in the past 37 years. The typical buyer paying the median price gets an estimated $6,375 house payment, up 42% in two years.

San Diego: Record $880,000 median was up 2% in month, 9% in year. Sales of 2,667 – up 9% in a month, up 7% in a year. No. 4 slowest April. $4,679 payment, up 33% in two years.

Los Angeles: Record $865,000 median was up 3% in month, 8% in a year. Sales of 5,331 – up 9% in month, up 15% in year. No. 3 slowest April. $4,599 payment, up 25% in two years.

Ventura: Record $835,000 median was up 1% in month, 8% in year. Sales of 632 – up 20% in month, 7% in year. No. 2 slowest April. $4,440 payment, up 29% in two years.

Riverside: Record $585,000 median was up 2% in month, 7% in a year. Sales of 3,476 – up 6% in month, 14% in year. No. 17 slowest April. $3,110 payment, up 27% in two years.

San Bernardino: $489,000 median was up 0.4% in month, up 8% in year. Sales of 2,363 – up 6% in month, 6% in year. No. 10 slowest April. $2,600 payment, up 23% in two years.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

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​ Orange County Register 

Pitchers have adjusted to Dodgers’ Andy Pages, so it’s his turn to counter

• May 30, 2024

NEW YORK — It was a sweet sixteen party for Andy Pages.

Promoted from Triple-A in mid-April, the Cuban-born outfielder was 22 for 65 (.339) with five doubles, four home runs, 12 RBIs and 14 runs scored in his first 16 major-league games. It was just the spark the Dodgers hoped would bring light to the darkness in the bottom half of their lineup.

Since then, though, Pages has been reminded that it’s just not that easy.

In his past 22 games through Wednesday, Pages has gone 12 for 80 (.150) with 31 strikeouts and only three extra-base hits (two doubles and one home run on a hanging slider from Cincinnati Reds right-hander Hunter Greene).

The more big-league pitchers have gotten to know Pages, the less successful he has been. But the 23-year-old says it’s not them, it’s him.

“I think they have been pitching me differently,” he said through an interpreter. “But I think it’s more that they see where I’m not making adjustments, where I’m making mistakes. They’re attacking those areas. But I think it’s more me not making the adjustments than what they’re doing to me.”

Opposing pitchers have been “pitching me in zones that I usually do pretty well in,” Pages said, identifying those as “middle-in, middle-down.”

“Those are pitches that are usually in my wheelhouse. But I’m missing those pitches and when they’re making mistakes in those zones. I should be able to hit those mistakes and I’m not right now.”

Mostly, though, pitchers have led Pages outside the most important zone – the strike zone. Pages’ chase rate has increased the longer he has been in the Dodgers’ lineup to the point that he is now swinging at almost 40% of the pitches he sees outside of the strike zone. (The major-league average is 28%.)

“I see him crowded more, a little bit more crowded,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of pitchers attacking Pages inside more often now. “I think they’re throwing him a lot more balls than strikes, which kind of speaks to his chase rate. There’s only one Vladimir Guerrero (Sr.) that I know – and I don’t think Andy even knows who that is – that could really cover balls outside the zone that well. At some point, you’ve got to cover the strike zone.”

James Outman was unable to make enough adjustments in his sophomore season and wound up back in Triple-A, opening a spot for Pages. Now it’s Pages’ turn to play the cat-and-mouse game with big-league pitchers.

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“I think a little bit of it is just, throughout the baseball season, the ebbs and flows of it,” Pages said. “But I think a lot of it has to do with me not hitting the pitches I should be hitting which I’m not.

“I’ve been fouling off those balls because I’ve been getting under those pitches in that lower zone. So I’ve been trying to get my hands above those balls so that I’m not fouling them off.”

Roberts praised Pages for his composure, regardless of how things are going, and said he doesn’t see the rookie “pressing.”

“He’s in a slide,” Roberts said. “There’s more chase. He’s missing some pitches he should hit.  But I just believe in the (level) head. I really do. With a young player it’s hard to imagine things … linear and seamless. It hasn’t been that way. But he hasn’t given up on the defensive side. And I just think there’s more in there. So we’ll keep running him out there.”

For what it’s worth, Outman has gone 7 for 25 (.280) in his first eight games back in Triple-A with a double and a home run.

​ Orange County Register