California woes,

 

California

still facing problems with it's budget , like a wave . How it compares with other states ?

In 2002 California was notoriously famous as the STATE with the LATE budget , some times the budget would be a half a year late , and people took it to be the NORM and paid no attention to it.  SUDDENLY the state had out of the blue a 21billion dollar deficit  ( previously California  had a 21 billion dollar surplus? )  Regardless , there had been excuses for the budgetary shortfalls without any kinda of investigation . California has one of the highest taxes in any part of the country . Some pundits blame PROP 13 . I don't blame Prop 13 as the cause of the budget shortfalls , since Prop 13  Californians have been paying much higher taxes almost on anything including Capital Gains Tax has tripled for those who sell and buy homes . Property Tax rates have been substantially higher since . As much as I care to say if you add all the tax that we pay to the STATE and FEDERAL governments there should be NO billion  dollar deficits at all. So what is wrong here?Why aren't our legislators held accountable for this rampant overspending? It's all well and good to have public service programs, but NOT if we cannot sustain them. Those of us with jobs (and we are becoming fewer and fewer) are continuously "asked" to support these freebie programs to a majority of people who are either too lazy or stoned to get up off their duffs and support themselves! California has fallen prey to an entitlement mentality and the word is out. Our government is the Mother Teat to anyone wanting to come nurse.California's nonpartisan fiscal analyst projected the state to have a $13 billion budget shortfall over the next 18 months. That likely means Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers will have to make another round of spending cuts. A shortfall of that large would trigger cuts to public schools, higher education, services for seniors and health care programs for the needy, under the budge passed during the summer.A series of automatic cuts, called triggers, will take effect based on revenue reports from the Legislative Analyst's Office and the governor's Department of Finance.Under the budget deal Gov. Jerry Brown signed in June, the state will automatically cut a variety of programs depending on how deep budget analysts determine the revenue shortfall will be. If the state falls between $1 billion and $2 billion short, the budget calls for cuts in higher education, social services and public safety. If the state falls more than $2 billion short, the state will cut K-12 schools and community colleges. More on this here

NOTES & COMMENTS:

BUDGET IMPASSE .

The federal deficit was a major talking point in the 2010 elections, with Republican candidates in particular touting the virtues of "fiscal responsibility" and the need for cutting spending. Indeed, the federal deficit has grown at breakneck pace: since the surpluses of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the deficit has swollen considerably, exceeding $1 trillion every year since fiscal year 2009. Yet despite receiving less national attention, state budget deficits are also creating precarious fiscal situations nationwide. Falling tax revenue and the end of federal Recovery Act assistance may make the coming fiscal year the most difficult yet for many U.S. states. In Illinois, which is facing some of the worst fiscal troubles in the nation, Democratic Gov. Patrick Quinn on Thursday approved tax hikes to fight the red ink, increasing personal income tax rates from 3 to 5 percent, and business income taxes from 7.3 to 9.5 percent.

Before they pass budgets, states project their revenues and outlays for the coming fiscal year. Every state except Vermont has a balanced budget law in one form or another, so legislators must close any gap between revenues and outlays before they can pass a formal budget. Cumulatively, those state budget gaps have grown to staggering levels during the current recession. Fiscal year 2010 saw the largest state deficit total ever, with $191 billion. Such figures tower over state deficit figures from previous recession years. During the recession of the early 2000s, the largest cumulative state budget deficit was $80 billion, in 2004. According to a recent report from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the total deficit projection for the current fiscal year is $160 billion. In FY 2012, which in most states will begin on July 1, 2011, that projection is slightly lower, at $140 billion. However, federal stimulus funds, which offset more than one-third of total budget shortfalls in 2010 and 2011, will run out in 2012, leaving states to handle their sizable budget gaps largely alone.

Phil Oliff, a policy analyst at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, says that states will have to undertake a number of measures to bring their budgets out of the red. "States are facing a very significant fiscal problem," he says. "The problem states are facing is really too big for any single solution." Those solutions include tactics like raising taxes, cutting spending, and drawing on reserves—all of which are potentially risky and could further threaten recovery.

Below are the 10 states that are projecting the largest shortfalls for FY 2012.

State	Projected FY 2012 shortfall (in millions of dollars)
California	$21,300
Illinois	17,000
New Jersey	10,500
Texas	10,000
New York	8,200
Connecticut	3,800
Minnesota	3,800
North Carolina	3,000
Ohio	3,000
Florida (tie)	2,500
Oregon (tie)	2,500

When viewed as a percentage of the full state budget, the task of closing these budget gaps can appear even more daunting. In Illinois, for example, the $17 billion 2012 shortfall is more than half the size of the 2011 state budget. Altogether, 40 states project shortfalls for their 2012 budgets, with a total that equals 19 percent—nearly one-fifth—of their 2011 budgets. Below are the ten states with the largest projected 2012 shortfalls, relative to their most recent budgets.

State	Projected FY 2012 shortfall (in millions of dollars)	Shortfall as Percentage of FY 2011 Budget
Illinois	$17,000	52.3
New Jersey	10,500	37.5
Nevada	1,300	36.7
Mississippi	1,200	27.6
South Carolina	1,300	26.1
California	21,300	25.7
Minnesota	3,800	25
Texas	10,000	22.3
Connecticut	3,800	21.6
Louisiana	1,700	21.2