Frequently asked questions concerning Facebook and California's General Fund

Aug 1, 2012 - At some point in the future, for these and other reasons, state revenue estimates likely will change to display Facebook-related revenues as simply "lumped in" with the state's other taxes. (State tax agency data on actual tax payments, for example, cannot indicate in detail which specific company's stock sales and related transactions resulted in a given amount of tax revenue.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Recommendations/Details/618

LAO commentary on Facebook IPO and state revenue forecasts

May 15, 2012 - While our office ’s state revenue forecast displays Facebook revenues only in the PIT, we acknowledge that the huge amount of wealth resulting from the company ’s IPO will benefit other state and local revenue sources in the near term.
https://lao.ca.gov/Recommendations/Details/596

Summary of LAO Findings and Recommendations on the 2012-13 Budget

While our office ’s state revenue forecast displays Facebook revenues only in the PIT, we acknowledge that the huge amount of wealth resulting from the company ’s IPO will benefit other state and local revenue sources in the near term.
https://lao.ca.gov/laoapp/budgetlist/PublicSearch.aspx?PolicyAreaNum=70&KeyCol=596&Yr=2012

Background information on LAO's May 2012 economic and revenue forecasts

May 18, 2012 - Figure 6 compares the LAO May 2012 revenue estimate related to the Facebook IPO with those in other recent forecasts. The IPO was announced in February and thus was not included in the Governor ’s January 2012 forecast. ( Additional information on our May 2012 Facebook IPO revenue forecast was published on this website on May 15.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Recommendations/Details/599

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - The Nasdaq composite, which includes the California headquartered companies Nvidia, Google, Facebook, Apple, AMD, and Broadcom, has doubled since 2023. The meteoric rise in the value of these companies has led to sizable gains for their investors and their employees via stock options, which has led income tax collections to grow at double-digit rates.  
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/852

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - The Nasdaq composite, which includes the California headquartered companies Nvidia, Google, Facebook, Apple, AMD, and Broadcom, has doubled since 2023. The meteoric rise in the value of these companies has led to sizable gains for their investors and their employees via stock options, which has led income tax collections to grow at double-digit rates.  
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/852

The 2012-13 Budget: Economic and Revenue Update [Publication Details]

Feb 27, 2012 - Like the economic data, reports concerning state revenues have been mixed recently too, with weakness in income tax payments accompanied by speculation concerning a future bonanza of tax revenues due to the possible offering of stock by Facebook, Inc.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/2578

Fiscal Outlook: Estimating Wages and Salaries [EconTax Blog]

Nov 14, 2018 - We expect workers in technology sector jobs —which includes firms conducting data processing, software development, and web search, like Google and Facebook —to see strong growth in both average wages and jobs.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/321

May income tax collections, to date, are above Governor's projections

May 30, 2013 - Withholding for May 2013  has totaled  about $3.48 billion, which is  $67 million (2 percent) above May 2012 levels, despite the fact that May 2012 is believed to have included a few hundred million dollars of nonrecurring PIT withholding resulting from Facebook, Inc. ’s initial public offering.
https://lao.ca.gov/Recommendations/Details/771

California's December income tax collections were quite strong

Jan 7, 2014 - Both the budget act projections and our office 's November 2013 revenue projections assumed that net capital gains received by California residents would decline substantially in 2013, given that 2012 results were elevated due to changes in federal tax policy and the Facebook initial public offering, among other factors.
https://lao.ca.gov/Recommendations/Details/775