LAO commentary on Facebook IPO and state revenue forecasts

May 15, 2012 - The Facebook IPO ’s Effect on the Economy About One-Fifth of 2012 Personal Income Growth Will Relate to the IPO. It appears that the bulk of income that will be attributable to Californians due to the IPO will be classified as a type of wage income, although there likely will be substantial c apital gains activity as well.
https://lao.ca.gov/Recommendations/Details/596

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

The Facebook IPO ’s Effect on the Economy About One-Fifth of 2012 Personal Income Growth Will Relate to the IPO. It appears that the bulk of income that will be attributable to Californians due to the IPO will be classified as a type of wage income, although there likely will be substantial capital gains activity as well.
https://lao.ca.gov/laoapp/budgetlist/PublicSearch.aspx?PolicyAreaNum=70&KeyCol=596&Yr=2012

Frequently asked questions concerning Facebook and California's General Fund

Aug 1, 2012 - Frequently asked questions concerning Facebook and California's General Fund Frequently asked questions concerning Facebook and California's General Fund Program: Revenues Finding or Recommendation: This item lists answers to frequently asked questions concerning Facebook's stock and California's General Fund budget for 2012-13.
https://lao.ca.gov/Recommendations/Details/618

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

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

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

^[PDF] The 2012-13 Budget: Overview of the May Revision

What Will Happen With Facebook and Capital Gains? Both our forecast and the administration’s assume that California will experience a revenue boost due to the Facebook IPO of about $2 billion spread across 2011-12 and 2012-13, assuming passage of the Governor’s tax measure.
https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2012/bud/may_revise/overview-may-revise-051812.pdf

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