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March 18, 2025 - The Governor’s budget includes several proposals under the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). In this post we evaluate and provide recommendations for three of these proposals: California Competes Grants, California Regional Initiative for Social Enterprises Grant Program, and CHIPS.
February 28, 2025 - This brief discusses California's film tax credit and assesses the Governor’s Budget proposal to raise the amount of tax credits available for the California Film Commission to allocate to $750 million starting in 2025‑26.
February 19, 2025 - In this post, we provide an update and comments on the implementation of a new firearm and ammunition tax that went into effect beginning July 2024.
February 14, 2025 - In this post, we provide information to support the Legislature’s oversight of the Department of Tax and Fee Administration’s (CDTFA’s) tobacco programs. In particular, we offer background information; comments on revenue trends, CDTFA’s enforcement activities, and the AB 3218 budget change proposal (BCP); and questions that budget subcommittees may wish to ask about these issues.
December 20, 2024 - Chapter 636 of 2022 (AB 1206, Bennett) modified the rules community land trust properties must meet to qualify for the property tax exemption, making it easier for properties to maintain their exemption when low-income residents experience a modest gain in income. AB 1206 also required our office to report data on the use of the exemption by community land trust properties. This report is issued pursuant to AB 1206.
December 2, 2024 -
Download our companion infographic for a quick summary of the issues and recommendations in this report.
California’s unemployment insurance (UI) program provides temporary wage replacement to unemployed workers. The state’s UI program financing system is broken. Benefits now routinely outpace incoming tax contributions, leading to a costly reliance on federal loans and constraining the state’s options to improve the program. This report describes the problems with the system in greater detail, including historical context and our projections of the future. We offer four recommendations that would fix the state’s broken UI system.
December 2, 2024 - CalFacts presents a wide range of facts and trends about the state's economy, finances, and programs.
October 8, 2024 -
Presented To: Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation
Hon. Jacqui Irwin, Chair
June 13, 2024 - Chapter 837 of 2019 (SB 34, Wiener) established new tax exemptions for donations of medicinal cannabis. The law directs our office to submit an annual report containing data on three outcomes related to the exemptions: the number of medicinal cannabis patients served, the amount of medicinal cannabis products donated, and the amount of tax revenue lost. This post fulfills that statutory requirement for 2023.
April 15, 2024 - Published in accordance with Chapter 353 of 2022 (AB 2622, Mullin), which directs our office to review the effectiveness of a partial sales tax exemption for zero-emission buses.
April 1, 2024 - Submitted in accordance with Section 7(b)(1) of Chapter 51 of 2022 (AB 192, Committee on Budget) that directs our office to evaluate the extent to which the Better for Families tax refund helped families meet the demands of inflation during the pandemic.
March 11, 2024 - The first part of this report describes low-wage workers' occupations, genders, races/ethnicities, birthplaces, household structures, educational attainment, and weekly hours. The second part focuses on low-wage workers' ages. The third part compares the statewide minimum wage to various benchmarks to assess whether it is high, low, or somewhere in between.
February 20, 2024 - We analyze the Governor's proposals for new spending at the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development.
February 13, 2024 - Presented to: Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on State Administration
November 15, 2023 - Presented to: Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation