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Total revenues for October, the fourth month of Fiscal Year 2014-15, totaled $6.0 billion, coming in above Budget Act estimates by $662.2 million, or 12.3%, according to a report by State Controller John Chiang on Monday.
For the fiscal year to date (July 1-Oct. 31), total revenues reached $27.9 billion, beating estimates by $1.2 billion, or 4.5%.
“Four months into the fiscal year, California’s coffers overflowed by $1.2 billion,” Chiang said. “The news comes on the heels of two other positive developments: the vote to strengthen California’s rainy-day fund through Proposition 2, and the credit upgrade that followed one day later.”
“To further boost California’s credit worthiness and sustain prosperity on a long-term basis, we must next tackle the growing $64 billion unfunded liability stemming from providing health benefits to our retired public workforce,” Chiang said.
“To not only protect taxpayers, but also the retirement security promised to our firefighters, teachers, and other providers of critical public services, we can no longer deny, delay, or equivocate,” he added.
Income tax collections for the month of October came in at $363.5 million, or 8.4% above estimates. Corporate tax revenues came in at $303.6 million, or 1,222% above estimates.
Sales taxes fell short of estimates by $37.4 million, or 4.1% for the month.
As of Oct. 31, the General Fund accumulated outstanding loans of $17.8 billion, which was down $2.6 billion from what the state expected to need by the end of October. This total was financed by $15.0 billion of borrowing from internal state funds and $2.8 billion of borrowing from banks and other outside investors.
Tax and spend in liberal progressive Kolifurnia! Wait and see how much is left when Moonbeam overruns the high speed train project to nowhere!!
So why isn’t that excess money returned to the state? They didn’t earn it, they took it from the taxpayers.
Should have said…So why isn’t that excess money returned to the taxpayers? The state didn’t earn it, they took it from the taxpayers.
Politicians will spend all the money and then argue they need to extend the ‘temporary’ taxes in prop 30 because they have increased spending and they need an additional income stream to support it.
“Four months into the fiscal year, California’s coffers overflowed by $1.2 billion …we must next tackle the growing $64 billion unfunded liability stemming from providing health benefits to our retired public workforce,” Chiang said (He also benefits).
“To not only protect taxpayers (Really?), but also the retirement security promised to our firefighters, teachers, and other providers of critical public services, we can no longer deny, delay, or equivocate,” he added.”
What Chiang is really saying is there really aren’t any EXTRA funds, or even extra funds that will go toward the Prop 2 rainy day fund. While he mentioned the 64 billion, and growing, unfunded retiree healthcare debt owed state employees, he failed to mention both the increasing pension obligations that are due both the CalPERS & CalSTRS pension funds, which are underfunded by hundreds of BILLIONs. Those increased costs will devouur the extra funds Chiang is claiming. And those numbers do NOT reflect local government unfunded pension & retiree health care debt. They are only state budget numbers.
Sacramento continues to paint a rosy picture while at the same time the MASSIVE DEBT continues to grow at both the state & local levels of government. Parents of school aged children better watch out. School District budgets will soon be hugely impacted by increased pension costs.
It isn’t just K-12 that is being impacted. According to Joel Fox, from Fox & Hounds:
“Yesterday, on a post-election panel presented by Capitol Weekly, I raised the issue of potential tax increases being contemplated by public unions and other groups in the next election and said that one of the reasons more revenue was sought was to cover pension obligations.
A union representative on the panel scoffed that pensions were “yesterday’s news.”
Actually, pensions were that day’s news if you read accounts about the University of California’s request that tuition be raised by 5-percent a year for a five year period.
The chief reason for the tuition increase appears to be retirement costs.”
The five percent per year increase amounts to a compunded 28 percent increase in tuition over current costs, which are already substantially above the tuition cost of just five years ago.
Government can never be “too big” or steal “too much money” from the hard working citizens, according to Government Democrats.
Keep up the good work Jerry. Some just can’t stand California doing so well after Arnold and the rest. They will never get over it. We are on the right “track” for the next four years.
I guess we didn’t need the parcel tax after all.
@Steven,
I don’t know why you say that. k-3 class sizes are still larger than they should be, and other services that were cut have not been restored. A parcel tax would help with that.
I think Steven was saying that we have so much more money than expected (in fact 12% more). Because of proposition 98 that was voted on some time ago, 39% of the budget minimally has to go to education. So the school should be getting more.
a pure ‘smoke and mirrors’ con. The retirements of current public union retirees plus those future retirees next year, and the year after, and the year after that, into the next decade are not funded. That’s why I voted NO on measure ‘2’ last week. It’s just another handy slush fund for greedy unions to steal from. We are pathetic hostages.
I have called this meeting of the Can’t Stand Prosperity Club to complain bitterly about the success our state is enjoying under the Leadership of Governor Brown.
I see that everyone could make it — and some of you even started early! Great! Let him have it, boys! Let him know we’ll never, ever give credit where it’s due!
Ready! Fire! Aim?
Taxpayer is right. This is like a family that gets a $10,000 raise and at the same time increases their credit card charges by $100,000 to $1,000,000 and thinks they are in great shape.
Even our fifth graders can figure this out. Or is this part of the new core curriculum (pay no attention to the credit card debt).
We are drowning in debt right now and keep piling more on. Then the politicians say “things are rosy!” Every government agency should be required to produce graphs that show the income, expense, and debt/liability over time.
Those are acorns, Chickens Little. The only things you’re drowning in are bile and hyperbole.