There is no freedom of the press in Los Angeles, and other cities will most likely follow their example, unless the press takes notice.
Bureaucrats, judges, and elected officials in Los Angeles seem to believe they can inspect the home office of reporters, and tax and control reporters who work out of their home. They have total disregard for the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
Last week the Los Angeles Second District Court of Appeal declined to consider a very critical case, and the result is not good for writers, and particularly for investigative journalists.
Los Angeles began to apply their business tax and licensing laws to all writers who work as independent contractors from their homes in 1997. The law establishes a tax on income, requires a $100 business license fee and provides for inspections of the home office and audits of records.
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That law stinks regardless of the type of business an individual may run out of their home, but it is particularly ominous for writers, website publishers, or anyone who may be critical of government officials.
The Writers Guild of America and six individual writers challenged the law in court, but they were thrown out.
Writer Lucian Truscott is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. She and the five other writers claimed that the law would enable city officials to come into their home to inspect their computer files, articles, drafts, and other materials.
The suit claimed that the city tax ordinance lacks clear standards and threatens to let the city suppress critical or unpopular expression.
The court ruled 3-0 to uphold the previous dismissal of the suit by Superior Court Judge Stephen Czuleger. The appeals court said that a ruling would violate "the strong public policy requiring a taxpayer to pay the tax and sue for a refund."
The claims of the suit were not considered or ruled upon. The appeals court judges were either too lazy to do the research necessary to properly rule, they were just plain incompetents, or they want to protect their ability to keep an eye on their critics. Whatever the reason, it was just simply easier to dismiss the suit than to rule on it.
The writers have not decided whether to appeal the suit further.
The requirement set by the court requires writers and journalists to first register with the city by applying for a license. The application requires journalists and writers of all types to fully disclose the type of writing they do. Writers are also required to disclose their clients, including the amount of money they are paid for their work. Then, of course, they must file an annual tax return, pay a tax, and renew their business license each year.
In effect, you cannot be an independent journalist, publisher, broadcaster, or website operator without a permit from the government. At any time some city bureaucrat gets an urge, the writer may find an inspector banging on their door.
Even worse, if a journalist has written something negative about a public official, that official could easily arrange for an inspection of the writer's home. That inspection could include confiscation of records and computers, and a full financial audit.
The easier course would be for a public official to threaten a journalist with an inspection or audit to prevent that journalist from disclosing something negative to a public official.
The court, in its great wisdom, decided that the only recourse of a writer is to pay the tax and then sue for a refund. Their gutless action enabled them to avoid the real issue -- unimpeded freedom of the press.
This is only one of the many examples of bad laws, bad politicians who make those laws, and bad judges who enforce bad laws. It is a bad law because the law could easily be used by a corrupt official to harass or influence a member of the press.
A good journalist should be a watchdog of government -- the eyes and ears of the public. That cannot happen when government sets itself up to be the watchdog of the journalists.
Every journalist in America should be outraged by this effort to provide a tool for government officials to intimidate writers of any type, and every American who wants to read the truth should encourage journalists to fight this form of tyrannical government.