Posted on 05/12/2012 5:06:21 PM PDT by reaganaut1
The state budget shortfall in California has increased dramatically in the last six months, forcing state officials to assemble a series of new spending cuts that are likely to mean further reductions to schools, health care and other social programs already battered by nearly five years of budget retrenchment, state officials announced on Saturday.
Gov. Jerry Brown, disclosing the development in a video posted on YouTube, said that California’s shortfall was now projected to be $16 billion, up from $9.2 billion in January. Mr. Brown said that he would propose a revised budget on Monday to deal with it.
“We are now facing a $16 billion hole, not the $9 billion we thought in January,” Mr. Brown said. “This means we will have to go much further and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year.”
Mr. Brown disclosed the news in a video that had all the trappings of a campaign announcement. In it, he aggressively accounted for the steps he said he had taken to try to scale back a $26 billion deficit he found upon taking office. And he urged viewers to back an initiative he is putting on the November ballot that would increase sales taxes by 0.25 percent and impose an income tax surcharge on wealthy Californians to try to stave off more cuts.
State officials said Mr. Brown’s proposal would include a package of immediate cuts, as well as others that would be triggered only if voters failed to approve his tax plan. The sales tax increase would expire after four years, while the income tax surcharge would last for seven years.
State officials said the shortfall was a result of disappointing revenue collections in April as California continued to struggle to pull out of the recession.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Raise those taxes, watch those businesses and rich people leave, watch that revenue continue to fall.
The important thing is that they purged all those darned capitalists from their state. Now all they have to do is “tax the rich and feed the poor, ‘til there are no rich no more”, and everything will be free and nobody will have to work ever again.
And then they will destroy all the machines, because it is they who are to blame for pollution and destroying nature.
It will be The Age of Aquarius. With, like, cannibalism.
If so, then, like, Governor Moonbeam should be the first to be eaten.
How about a 100% tax on total personal wealth upon leaving the state for ALL people in California?
An EXIT tax.
Cooking the books with rosy revenue projections doesn’t negate the need for real cash.
Here’s an idea: import more Illegals. And free contraception. That’s the ticket! [/s]
Couldn’t happen to a better state.
wow. What happened to her?
That is apparently how the Kalipornia liberal thinks
Can’t they just buy a unicorn that has “we love children” branded into its head and that farts out billions of dollars in golden coins?
(...forcing state officials to assemble a series of new spending cuts that are likely to mean further reductions to schools, health care and other social programs)
Notice that cutting salaries or benefits to State union employees is somehow never part of the choices, God forbid! Once they have cut all services to taxpayers, all of the taxpayer revenues will go toward state employee salaries and benefits, and those employees will be...doing what exactly? Oh, that’s right, they will be deployed to collect more and more fees from the producers!
(California’s shortfall was now projected to be $16 billion, up from $9.2 billion in January.)
Can’t cook the books forever! We should all believe government statistics, especially when we see a deficit jump more than 42% in an allegedly improving economy!
After dating Moonbeam she got weird and let herself go. ; )
Rinse...repeat...rinse...repeat...etc
They never want to cut their own salaries, benefits and pensions. Maybe it is beginning to dawn on a few of them that raising taxes is bringing in less revenue but they will just go into denial mode.
Yes...that denial is a real devilish thing!
they can keep repeating but the returns keep deminishing
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