CA: Legislative analyst sees state finances as 'truly awful'

Sac Bee ^ | 11/12/08 | Kevin Yamamura

[NormsRevenge]

California will face massive budget shortfalls through at least 2014 without immediate action by lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget analyst said Tuesday.

In the midst of high unemployment, shaky consumer confidence and plummeting investments, the state needs a slew of tax increases and spending cuts to resolve a $27.8 billion problem over the next 20 months, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said. Those budgetary actions also would help narrow annual deficits of about $22 billion in subsequent years.

While California faced a larger budget gap in 2002-03 under then-Gov. Gray Davis, Taylor said the longer projected duration of the state's current budget problems is more daunting.

"The numbers are just truly awful," Taylor said. "It may be as dire a situation as I've seen in my time in the office. And as a result, we are recommending to our bosses it is just imperative that they act quickly and aggressively to address this problem."

Taylor's shortfall estimate of $27.8 billion is greater than the $24.2 billion figure the governor cited last week. But the legislative analyst said the governor's proposal, with its extensive cuts and tax increases, is reasonable and ambitious.

He also disputed claims that the budget gap can be bridged by cuts or taxes alone. He noted his office until now has proposed ways to balance the budget without new tax increases, but said that is now impossible.

[NormsRevenge]

As goes California, so goes the nation..

You idiot voters wanted even more Socialism?

You Got It!

[Red Badger]

In the midst of high unemployment, shaky consumer confidence and plummeting investments, the state needs a slew of tax increases and spending cuts to resolve a $27.8 billion problem over the next 20 months, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said.

No wonder they are in financial straits. They have idiots like this running the show............

[mlocher]

"The numbers are just truly awful," Taylor said. "It may be as dire a situation as I've seen in my time in the office. And as a result, we are recommending to our bosses it is just imperative that they act quickly and aggressively to address this problem."

In CA, acting quickly will mean an additional request for a bailout that surpasses the $7B Schwarzeneggar has already applied for.

[bikerman]

the state needs a slew of tax increases.

Yea! that will help the solve the problem. (Dummy Dems.)

[Monsieur Poirot]

I posted this yesterday, but here goes again...

So what. I’ve been reading since the 70s!!!! about how such and such a city or state is “facing a fin. meltdown by midnight 3 days from now. Essential services will be eliminated, water and elec. will disappear, and the citizens will be forced to eat each other for food and burn each other for heat.” And somehow these liberal cesspools NEVER EVER go away, and actually give out MORE welfare than before. Two years from now CA will look exactly like it does now AND WILL BE GIVING OUT EVEN MORE WELFARE TO MORE BUMS THAN IT DOES TODAY. Don’t ask me how, but that seems to be the pattern.

[EyeGuy]

We keep hearing that financially things keep getting worse and worse in socialist utopias like California and Massachusetts.

Something HAS to give eventually.

I wonder how close those two hellholes are to the breaking point.

[Monsieur Poirot]

See my post number five.

[Moconservative]

Somewhere in the Liberal booklet on how to be a liberal there must be something in there that says lets just spend ourselves into oblivion and then come back later for the taxes to pay for it.

The other thing in there is that we can always print more money it’s an unlimited resource.

Both of these are occuring in the Federal budget and the California budget. A day of reckoning will come!

[NormsRevenge]

some of here have been asking that for years and years.

as long as California can borrow and tax, we got a couple more election cycles to go is my best guess.

[EyeGuy]

Yes, exactly.

I see you are as mystified by this seeingly never-ending downward spiral as I am.

As I said it cannot go on forever, but the permanent political class seems to somehow be able to perpetuate this shell game farce.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

"California, meet the Laffer Curve. Go ahead and raise taxes, you will actually make LESS money."

[randita]

With CA at junk bond status, their ability to borrow much is severely curtailed. Who’s going to take the risk? Maybe George Soros.

[D-fendr]

And they made a joke of the Laffer curve when it is basic logic.

I understand it’s point of illustrating maximum revenue, but I wish it didn’t say “Optimal” and rather said “maximum revenue”.

The “optimal” tax rate is the lowest necessary to provide necessary services.

thanks for your post.

[AmericanVictory]

And now the nation is going, under Obama, to both increase taxes and increase spending, all to help the middle class. You’ve got to give it to that moderate republican Schwarzenegger; he really reached across the aisle.

[Oldpuppymax]

So we’ll tax the producers, run businesses and investors out of the state and wind up with a really, really big New Jersey! Ain’t socialism fun! Of course, republicans will be right on board the whole way. And then they’ll send out those spledid requests for campaign contributions to the rock ribbed, oh so conservative, true blue American republican party.

[DPMD]

Maybe Schnitzelbender can sneak out of the governor’s mansion and into the U.S. Senate, and nobody will notice, and the new guy can say things have always been like this and we just never realized it.

Meanwhile, given the election day results in California, we sure love our bonds and new taxes.