September revenue in California came in at a bit more than $300 million under forecast. That brings the fiscal year to somewhere between $700 and $800 million below forecast. (The California Controller’s office and the California Finance Department use slightly different numbers, so the exact shortfall number varies between the departments.)
No matter, if we take $700 million for three months and project that out for twelve months, you get $2.8 billion under forecast. As the Bloomberg article I linked to notes, automatics spending cuts in California are almost certain to happen.
The problems the Bronze Golden State face can be summed up simply in that the state hasn’t found a regulation that they don’t like and a tax they don’t want. Add in a recession nationally (no matter if the pundits haven’t officially called it a recession, the public is acting as if it is a recession) and neither businesses nor individuals want to spend money or do anything else that increases California collections.
California should, of course, cut regulations and make the state more business friendly. Unfortunately, that has as much chance as it snowing in Irvine today.
A good juxtaposition with this is that Governor Jerry Brown signed the so-called “Dream Act” into law. This law will consider illegal immigrants in California state residents and allow them to enter California state colleges and universities and pay resident rates (which are less than non-resident rates). That will, of course, increase the costs to the universities and increase the state’s deficit.
Tags: 2011CalBudget