IS THE CALIFORNIA COW STARTING TO DRY UP ?

By Bob Walsh

 

Until very recently the legislature of the formerly great state of California was throwing money around with great abandon.  Free health care of illegal aliens.  State funded pre-K for 4-year olds.  State funded legal help for undocumented democrats.  State money to draw women to CA to have abortions that they can not get in their home states.  The gravy train may be slowing down. 

The God-Emperor of California, Gavin Newsom, stopped unemployment benefits for undocumented democrats.  He put the kibosh to the expansion of full-day kindergarten classes.  He has acknowledged that it is now likely that the state will be about $8-9 billion short by the end of the fiscal year on July 1.  

A lot of the problem is tax policy.  CA relies VERY heavily on income tax revenue.  Much more so than most states.  The top 1% of earners in CA pay very close to 50% of the income tax in the state.  The current economic situation and especially the current stock market have put a huge ding in the income of those high earners.  That then puts a huge ding in the money the state sucks up from these folks.  In addition a fair number of them have just said "fuck this shit" and left the state for places like Texas and Florida.  

The general economic drag has effected a lot of things.  Last year a total of 206 CA based privately held corporations when public.  This generated a ton of money, much of which is taxable.  It is estimated that this year that number will be less than 50.  

The cow may not have run dry, but the flow is certainly curtailed.  Now if we could just get a legislature that knew how to prioritize spending properly instead of funding legal aid to fight deportation by illegal aliens as a primary goal we might be making progress.