San Francisco’s Financial Crisis

By Sheridan Swanson
05/26/2023
The State of California isn’t the only one scrambling to prepare a budget while staring down a deficit. Several Bay Area municipalities are also struggling with their own budget problems, San Francisco chief among them.  San Francisco’s 2022-23 budget and next year’s 2023-24 budget total approximately $14 billion each. On March 31, the San Francisco...

TAGS: California budget, California state budget, Finance, Government Finance, Reparations, San Francisco

Newsom Wisely Avoids Transit Bailout in May Budget Revise

By Marc Joffe
05/16/2023
Governor Newsom’s FY 2023-24 budget update included a larger projected deficit and more balancing measures than his January budget. But, despite pressure from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and transit agencies, the May Revise excluded emergency funding for local bus and rail systems around the state. The agencies’ proposed transit bailout was at best premature,...

TAGS: budget, California budget, California state budget, Gavin Newsom, state budget, Transportation, transportation infrastructure

Sacramento’s Mismanagement of Taxpayer Dollars

By Sheridan Swanson
05/11/2023
Leaders in Sacramento are grappling with the state budget this month as California faces a budget deficit of nearly $32 billion. Senate leaders claim they can address the deficit without cutting spending on state programs, but the reality is that a fiscal reckoning is long overdue. According to a survey released by the Public Policy...

TAGS: budget, California budget, California state budget, Gavin Newsom, state budget

Looming Deficits Present Another Opportunity to Offer Solutions for California

By Edward Ring
12/01/2022
Just a few months ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom was bragging about California’s “$100 billion budget surplus.” At the same time, the California Policy Center was pointing out that the governor’s “surplus” was fantasy – that state and local governments owed about $1.6 trillion. In those heady days, however, with obliging media cheering him on, Newsom...

TAGS: California debt, California state budget, Government Spending, state budget

Inflation-adjusted per capita state spending doubles in one decade – for what?

By Edward Ring
06/16/2022
The California State Legislature has just released the “Floor Report of the 2022-2023 Budget,” and it’s a doozy. Representing an agreement between the budget committees of the Assembly and the Senate, and building on Governor Newsom’s proposal, this $300 billion monstrosity has moved one step closer to becoming final. To fully appreciate how out of...

TAGS: budget, California state budget, Edward Ring, state budget

How to Reduce the California State Budget by $40 Billion

By Edward Ring
12/28/2017
As of a few days ago, high-wage earners have a new reason to leave California: their state income taxes are no longer deductible on their federal income tax returns. Can California’s union-controlled state legislature adapt? Can they lower the top marginal tax rates to keep wealthy people from leaving California? The short answer is, no, they cannot. They cannot conceive of the possibility that California's current economic success is not because of their confiscatory policies, but in spite of them.

TAGS: California state budget, taxes

Comparing Federal and California State Retirement Exposures

By Marc Joffe
06/02/2016
Californians may be accustomed to living with the specter of a public pension crisis. But the federal government’s problem with its retirement system – including Social Security – is far worse, and yet none of the three remaining major-party candidates for president has a plan to do anything about it. The California Policy Center generally...

TAGS: California state budget

Government Unions Need Property Tax Increases to Fund Unsustainable Pensions

By Jon Coupal
01/26/2015
Let’s be honest.  When politicians and pundits discuss the state budget, very little is about the impact on homeowners. Notwithstanding the fact that a person’s home is their most important asset, this lack of perspective is understandable. When people think about political issues impacting their status as homeowners, they are far more likely to focus...

TAGS: California state budget, California Supreme Court, local bond measures, Proposition 13

Has Sacramento really balanced the state’s budget?

By Bill Fletcher
01/13/2015
Thanks to Proposition 30 with its retroactive tax increase and an improving economy, the state claims that it has balanced its General Fund budget.  This may be technically correct but ignores some very unpleasant realities. Claiming to have balanced the budget ignores the growing unfunded liabilities associated with public employee pensions and other unfunded retirement...

TAGS: California state budget, GASB, unfunded pension liabilities