California Corporate Tax Collections Lag Estimates

It’s a litany of good news in Gov. Jerry Brown’s election-year budget. Safety net programs are being shored up. Debt is being repaid. Revenues are rising.

Except for corporate taxes.

In fact, business tax receipts are falling at the same time hefty profits are being posted by major companies across the country.    Read more »

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Legislature and Governor Hold Budgetary Love-In

The Legislative Analyst routinely takes governors to task for any number of deficiencies  — unrealistic forecasts, faux-savings and gimmickry, among them — contained  in the January spending plans of the executive branch. Not this year:

“Overall, the governor’s proposal would place California on an even stronger fiscal footing, continuing California’s budgetary progress,” the analyst says in its 42-page Overview of the Governor’s Budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.     Read more »

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New Budget Spends $65 Million on Illegal Immigrant Drivers Licenses

Providing up to 1.4 million driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants will cost $65 million for the Department of Motor Vehicles during the first six months after the law takes effect January 1, 2015, according to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget plan released January 9.

Lawmakers had debated the issue of whether illegal immigrants should have licenses for 20 years prior to approving legislation to do so in September.    Read more »

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Might Be Trying to Distance Himself from the Governor

 

Vidak: Governor Brown, Why Don’t YouCome to Your Senses? SACRAMENTO – Senator Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) responded today to Governor Jerry Brown’s budget proposal to use cap-and-trade money to fund the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project with the following statement: 

Governor Brown, why don’t you come to your senses? 

In 2008, 52 percent of the electorate voted to pass Proposition 1A, which allowed the State of California to issue up to $9.95 billion in bonds to construct a high speed train.     Read more »

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(Must Be Good News Or He Wouldn’t Want to Say It Three Times)

Top Story UPDATED: Governor Brown to Introduce Budget on Friday in Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles

1-7-2014

Please note that news conferences have been added in San Diego and Los Angeles. 

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. will introduce his 2014-15 budget proposal on Friday, January 10, 2014 at news conferences in Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles.SacramentoWhen:     Read more »

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“Millions of Reasons to Be Cautiously Optimistic”

California collected $6 billion int ax revenue in November, missing estimates in the state budget by $375.6 million, or 5.9 percent, State Controller John Chiang said December 10 in his monthly report covering the state’s cash balance, receipts and disbursements for last month.

The main reason revenues fell below estimates was simply timing, Chiang said, noting that during the current fiscal year which began July 1, revenues are running ahead of predictions in last June’s budget by nearly $230 million.State    Read more »

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After The Money’s Gone…

In its assessment of California’s budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, the Legislative Analyst says this about state highway spending: 

“Proposition 1B, a ballot measure approved by voters in November 2006, authorized the issuance of $20 billion in general obligations bonds for state and local transportation improvements….    Read more »

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State Economy Largely Unchanged In August, Brown Says

 “California experienced a slight uptick in the unemployment rate in July, ending 23 consecutive months of decline. However, the number of jobs continued to rise and the real estate market continued to improve.”

So begins the September 2013 Finance Bulletin of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Department of Finance, which covers July economic activity and August revenue collections.    Read more »

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June Income and Business Taxes $1.5 BillIon Above Estimates

Further buttressing the state’s financial condition, California’s June income tax and business tax receipts are nearly $1.5 billion higher than projected.

Total income tax payments through June 30, the close of the previous fiscal year,  were $8.4 billion.

In the budget signed by Gov. Jerry Brown June 27, $7.5 billion was predicted.    Read more »

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Brown Signs Budget Three Days Before New Fiscal Year

At an 11 a.m. signing ceremony on June 27,  Gov. Jerry Brown signs California’s $145 billion budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. His press office says he’ll be joined by Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat,  and Assembly Speaker John Pérez, a Los Angeles Democrat. The  Budget Act of 2013 is AB 110.      Read more »

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