State Budget

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A Billion Where?

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post noted the supposed quote of Everett Dirksen, GOP minority leader in the U.S. Senate in the 1960s (talking about the federal budget): “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”  (Presumably, real money was more than the 15 cents on the picture.) We noted in that blog post that as of that point shortly after income tax day April 17, income tax collections for the fiscal year were running a billion dollars ahead of last year.  Sadly, the fates have not been with us.  As of April 24, the billion dollar…

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In the Balance

Byuclafaculty

You may see headlines about a recent court decision related to last year’s budget conflict between the legislature and the state controller.  Voters passed an initiative lowering the requirement to pass a budget from two thirds to a simple majority but with the stipulation that if a balanced budget was not passed by June 15 (the constitutional deadline), legislators would lose a day of pay for each day beyond June 15. Last year the legislature hastily passed a budget to meet the deadline after it became clear that the governor’s negotiations with Republican legislators were going nowhere. The governor needed…

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Listen to Remaining Audio of Regents Meeting of March 29, 2012

Byuclafaculty

A previous post on this blog noted that a defective file had been received for the third day session of the Regents after the Public Comments period.  Only part of that session was posted as a result, although it did include the decision officially to withdraw implementation of an exemption from the IRS pension cap.  The complete recording has now been received.  It includes the portion previous posted plus discussion of private budgetary support and fund raising, political advocacy including a request by students to support the governor’s tax initiative scheduled for the November ballot.  There was also discussion of…

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LA Times is Yes and No on Legislation to Lower Tuition

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times today is unhappy with proposed legislation that would change corporate taxes and raise money for lowering public higher ed tuition. (Excerpt) …SB 1500 and 1501, by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) would …eliminat(e) a tax loophole for businesses and us(e) the resulting revenue to provide large scholarships to middle-class students in the state’s public colleges and universities, (and) reduc(e) their tuition costs by two-thirds… We can think of more pressing needs than tuition relief for families earning between $80,000 and $150,000, and no doubt so can Pérez. A properly funded welfare-to-work program, for example, or…

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A billion here, a billion there…

Byuclafaculty

Everett Dirksen, who was the GOP minority leader in the U.S. Senate in the 1960s, was famous for saying (about the federal budget), “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” Actually, no one has produced evidence that he really said it.  However, the quote’s relevance today is on the latest data from the state controller on the daily intake of income tax payments – which peak in April for obvious reasons. The daily tracker on the controller’s website which was noted in an earlier post on this blog reports that as of April…

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Daily State Taxes

Byuclafaculty

“Pay your taxes with a smile unless, of course, they insist on cash.”* State tax aficionados (yes, there are some – particularly in the legislature and the governor’s Dept. of Finance) tend to watch the daily inflows of income tax in April which is the big tax month.  Right now, total income tax receipts for the current fiscal year are almost exactly where they were at this time last year.   Of course, people who owe taxes tend to mail in their returns at the deadline (which is April 17 this year because the 15th is Sunday and there is a…

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Regental Lament (and maybe action)

Byuclafaculty

Scroll down on today’s blog posts and you will find an odd item slated for the Regents Committee on Finance scheduled for March 28.  On March 29, in contrast, there will be a discussion at that Committee on the budget and on tax initiatives on the November ballot.  The background report laments the current situation and notes: For UC to remain true to President Daniel Coit Gilman’s promise in the 1800s to be the “University of this State” – to help fuel its economy and provide opportunities for its continually changing population and its needs – the University must strengthen…

State Budget News Through February Not So Good

Byuclafaculty

The latest state controller’s report through February on cash flows into and out of the general fund indicates that we are down about $6.5 billion in revenue from last year.  Most of that drop is due to the fact that the governor did not get the tax extensions he proposed when the budget was finally enacted.  But about $800 million is below the projections he made in the budget documents that accompanied his January proposal for next year’s budget.  Spending came in somewhat under his January projections. The controller’s latest report is at:http://www.controller.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1112_feb.pdf Maybe it’s just February:

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Being on Both Sides

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert story about yesterday’s rally at the state capitol: College students and activists are rallying today in Sacramento to protest state budget cuts in higher education. They will be joined at one Capitol rally by Democratic legislative leaders who negotiated budgets that included those cuts in recent years.  It’s one example of the murky budget politics surrounding higher education… Full story at: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/03/college-students-and-activists-are.html It’s nice to be able to be on both sides: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcrEqIpi6sg&w=320&h=195]Update: Dan Walters, a columnist for the Sacramento Bee, makes the same point today in an op ed that concludes with the…

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Legislative Analyst Forecasts Less Revenue than Governor

Byuclafaculty

The Legislative Analyst has issued a new report on the outlook for state revenue.  It is less optimistic than the forecast contained in the governor’s budget proposal of January. Both the LAO and the governor assume that the governor’s tax measure slated for the November ballot will pass.  Forecasting involves much uncertainty and in the case of budgeting, the economic forecast must be linked to specific taxes, another possible source of error.  Nonetheless, ultimately the legislature has to go with some forecast and, as we saw last June, it can assume phantom revenue and pass a budget on that basis…