California Legislature // credit: California Progress Report[/caption]
Following Tuesday’s revised budget announcement, California Governor Jerry Brown cautioned against overspending additional revenues, originally projected to be $4.5 billion.
Republican Assembly Leader, Connie Conway (R-Tulare) responded to the announcement in a statement:
“Governor Brown today put forward a revised state spending plan that I believe charts a realistic path forward in meeting the budget priorities of hard-working taxpayers. Republicans share the Governor’s commitment to paying down state debt and holding the line on new spending… We must resist the temptation to blow through the surplus using one-time money for ongoing programs and reverse the progress we’ve made in closing the deficit.”
Although Democrats hold a supermajority in the California Legislature, Brown has remained adamant about not over estimating future revenues based on short-term or one-time sources.
Specifically, the recent jump has been attributed to wealthy Californians responding to national budget uncertainty, thereby causing them to cash in assets before tax increases took effect. Additionally, much of the added revenue from Proposition 30 is slated to go toward the Prop. 98 minimum guarantee while K-12 schools will see an additional $2,754 per student through 2017.
Likewise, Brown’s revised budget accounts for federal activity, or rather lack thereof. From the revised budget:
“[T]the federal government did not extend the 2‑percent pay roll tax reduction that had been in place in 2011 and 2012. This action was not assumed in the Governor’s Budget economic forecast. As a result, forecasted personal income growth in 2013 has been cut almost in half—from 4.3 percent to 2.2 percent.”
In addition to lowering revenue projections related to personal income tax, the revised Brown budget also charts a ‘dimmed’ yet growing economic future for California.