Chris Parker for Board of Equalization

Background:

Chris Parker is a candidate for Board of Equalization (BOE), District 2. An accomplished Tax Attorney for the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and an elected executive board representative for the State Democratic Party, he hopes to become the first Democrat to occupy the seat since Brad Sherman was elected in 1990.

Chris has lived in California for eight years. His mother was a working-class single mom during the Volcker recession of the 1980's and taught him blue collar values that he still carries to this day. A product of humble beginnings, he believes in a system of fairness and integrity that rewards working people and holds accountable those who choose to cheat the system.

Goals:

The Board of Equalization is California's Tax Court. It needs to be fair, regardless of your station in life you need to know you have an equal opportunity to have your case heard.

The Board also needs to work to hold accountable those who choose to cheat the system. California loses billions of dollars in revenue per year to those who affirmatively work to cheat on their taxes. This is not about raising taxes, but collecting the tax already due to California to fund the programs we hold dear like education.

Finally, we need to elect someone who understands tax law to California's tax board. I am the only Tax Attorney running for the seat.

Issues:

1) Fair tax system.

2) Hold accountable those who cheat.

3) Putting a Tax Attorney on California's Tax Board.

Grassroots Support:

This seat was drawn to be a safe Republican district and has been since 1990 (the last time a Democrat won!). Reaching out to Democrats and Decline To State voters in this district will be essential to succeeding in the effort to take back the seat. There are over 400,000 Decline To State voters in this district. The grassroots will be key in getting the word out about the campaign and helping to contact voters in the district to take this seat back.

DFA Values:

I fought for marriage equality and to protect a woman's right to choose in the last election cycle. I will continue to support those fights as they come up again in California.

Taxation should not be about pay to play politics. Instead, the system needs to be policy driven where we work to create a better and more transparent system that holds accountable those who cheat and respects those who work hard but make an honest mistake. The Republicans who serve on the Board have, for too long, given favors to Big Corporate donors -- even pointing to the taxpayers and talking about having dinner and discussing the case the night before the hearing! This neither sets good policy nor works to encourage compliance with the law. The system must move to being more clear, transparent, and equitable for the sake of all of California's taxpayers.