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(composed of government representatives, business leaders, and academics) recently released a proposal to overhaul the outdated and burdensome California state tax system.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