A combination of a more realistic willingness to raise taxes to fund obligations, combined with Governor Brown's laser focus on building up a huge rainy day fund during years in which the state was riding high-across his two terms, the state went from a $27 billion deficit to having nearly $14 billion in the rainy day fund-has transformed the state's finances.
California went, in the space of just a few years, from a budgetary laughingstock to a state that has managed for the better part of a decade to offset the cost of its growing social safety net programs with a relatively progressive tax system.
In 2022, with the state flush with pandemic-era federal funds and a huge bump in tax revenues as wealthy residents saw their net worth hugely increase, Newsom signed a $307 billion budget for the upcoming year-taking on impressive new healthcare, environmental, and other commitments for the state.
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]