Governor Jerry Brown released a revised version of his budget plan this week, and guess what? We're not doing so bad! Instead of the $25-billion-and-change deficit we had at the beginning of the year, we're now looking at a $9.6 billion shortfall. Turns out that bump in tax revenue was actually closer to $6.6 billion rather than the $2 billion originally reported. According to the State Finance Department, that revenue came mostly from the personal income taxes of upper-income Californians. So the next time you see an upper-income Californian buy them a cup of coffee or something. It's the nice thing to do. They helped put another $3 billion back in the education budget, after all.
As expected, Governor Brown is still pushing to eliminate redevelopment agencies and bring about five more years of higher sales tax to get the state back on (somewhat) solid ground financially. Republicans in Sacramento admitted this was a step in the right direction, but they still aren't having any of this tax increase nonsense. A member of the Assembly's Budget Committee claimed that the plan will increase the size of government by 31% over three years despite Brown's plans to eliminate 43 boards, commissions and departments by sending those responsibilities down to the local level.
