New California Tax Proposals Harbinger for the Rest of U.S.?

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In response to the current
budget crises and the largest drop in state tax revenues in over 50 years, the
non-partisan California Tax Commission (composed of government
representatives, business leaders, and academics) recently released a proposal
to overhaul the outdated and burdensome California state tax system.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090114/DC59060LOGO-b )

"These proposed changes could be huge for California. They could also serve
as a blueprint for every state taxing jurisdiction in the country," reports
BNA senior tax analyst and state tax managing editor George Farrah.

Two leading tax experts close to the CTC proposals, Blake Christian of HCVT,
LLP, the second largest CPA firm housed in California, and USC Professor
Charles Swenson, will examine the proposals and their likely impact in a 60-90
minute webinar hosted by BNA Tax & Accounting on Wednesday, December 9, 2009
at 12:30 pm. ET, entitled Harbinger of State Tax Systems for the 21st Century?
Recent Proposals from the California Tax Commission.

According to Christian, "the proposed changes are intended to stabilize a
volatile income tax system, and to streamline business taxes to provide a more
business friendly climate. Under the proposal, the state sales tax (but not
local sales taxes) and corporate income taxes would be eliminated, and
replaced by a Business Net Receipts Tax (BNRT). The state individual income
tax would be at a new flat rate and many current deductions would be
eliminated, with the goal of stabilizing tax collections from year-to-year."

This presentation focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal, and
the likely impacts of the proposal's adoption on corporations, pass through
entities, and individuals. Practitioner impacts -- from a compliance and
planning perspective -- will also be discussed, as will planning ideas under
the current and proposed provisions.

Presentation Objectives:
Registrants will obtain a conceptual understanding of the Commission's
proposal, strengths and weaknesses of the proposal, and the proposal's impact
on practitioners if adopted, as follows:
-- General discussion of the Commission's proposal
-- Strengths and weaknesses, experience of similar systems in other
states
and countries, and public responses
-- Impacts on corporations
-- Impacts on pass through entities
-- Impacts on individuals

-- Most recent updates

Educational Objectives:
-- Describe the basic implications of the proposal
-- Understand the basic advantages/disadvantages of the proposed system
on
the state
-- Understand compliance and planning requirements for corporate, pass
through, and individual clients, should the proposal become law

-- Understand how to voice opinions on the proposal

About the Speakers

Blake Christian is a Tax Partner with the Long Beach office of HCVT, LLP (the
second largest CPA firm headquartered in California and a Top 50 national
firm) and a Co-Founder of National Tax Credit Group, LLC. Blake has 29 years
of public and private tax consulting expertise and is a member of numerous
industry organizations including the California Chamber of Commerce Tax
Committee. Blake's clients include large, owner-managed businesses as well as
multi-national businesses. In addition to providing his clients with
traditional tax planning and compliance services, Blake is a nationally
recognized expert on Location Based Incentive Credits (LBIC), including the
California Enterprise Zone Program. Blake writes and speaks nationally on a
variety of topics, including LBICs. Blake also authors a monthly column for
the AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider Newsletter.

Charles (Chuck) Swenson is Professor and Leventhal Research Fellow at the
Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Prior to
his academic career, Chuck worked as a CPA for Deloitte & Touche and
PricewaterhouseCoopers. Chuck earned his PhD at USC (accounting and
economics), and prior to joining the USC faculty 22 years ago, was on the
faculty at Caltech. Chuck has over 100 publications in professional and
academic journals, and specializes in state taxation and state tax policy
issues. His texts include Strategic Business Tax Planning (Wiley, 2007), State
Taxation: Principles and Practice (JRoss Publishing, 2003), and he is general
editor of the treatise State Taxation: Principles and Practice (LexisNexis,
2009). He is co-founder of National Tax Credit Group, LLC.

Register for this audioconference and obtain further information about CLE and
CPE credits, go to: http://tmstore.bna.com/PageManager.aspx?pageId=8936 or
call 1-800-372-1033, menu Option 6, then Option 1. The fee is $249 for BNA
subscribers, $299 for nonsubscribers.

To receive automatic, email notification of upcoming BNA webinars that may be
of interest to you, go to: http://www.bna.com/emailsignup.htm

About BNA Tax & Accounting Webinars

Designed for today's busy practitioners, our webinars offer the same expertise
and relevance that are the hallmark of all BNA Tax & Accounting resources. In
just 60-90 minutes, practitioners gain in-depth knowledge on a current tax or
accounting topic from experts in that area -- and benefit from practical
applications that can be put to work immediately. Conference attendees have
the opportunity to ask the speakers questions, and may be eligible to earn CLE
or CPE credits -- all from the convenience of their own office or conference
room.

SOURCE BNA Tax & Accounting

Mark Carrington of BNA Tax & Accounting, +1-703-341-5880, mcarrington@bna.com