Comparing Options to Raise and Lower Taxes [Publication Details]

Mar 24, 2026 - This report lays out various options to raise and lower taxes in California and offers a comparative evaluation of those options in the areas of budgeting, economy, taxpayer experience, progressivity, and fairness.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5170

An Analysis of Proposition 4: The Gann "Spirit of 13" Initiative [Publication Details]

Dec 1, 1979 - Proposition 4 also attempts both to clarify the fiscal roles played by the various branches (legislative, judicial and executive) and levels (federal, state and local) of government, and to insure that any surplus funds are promptly returned to the people.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/3524

The 2026-27 Budget: CDTFA’s Cannabis and Tobacco Programs

Feb 23, 2026 - Instead, the right number of inspections depends on costs and benefits —some of which, like deterring illegal activities and promoting fair competition, can be very difficult to quantify. The Governor ’s proposed level of spending on cannabis and tobacco enforcement is just one among a range of reasonable policy options available to the Legislature.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

Review of the California Competes Tax Credit

Oct 31, 2017 - Additionally, GO ‑Biz has attempted to fairly balance the stated intent of the Legislature to maximize the effective use of taxpayer dollars with statutory requirement to consider various specific factors.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3709

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - To assess housing affordability for minimum-wage workers, we compare monthly earnings for full-time workers making the main minimum wage in each county to HUD ’s estimate of “fair market rent ” for housing in that county.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/3

The 2025-26 Budget: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development

Mar 18, 2025 - Some research provides fairly good evidence that California Competes encourages recipients to make new investments in California. We suspect that this efficacy is related to several features of the program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5018

Do Communities Adequately Plan for Housing?

Mar 8, 2017 - Regional Housing Needs Allocation Process Defines Each Community ’s Fair Share of Housing. Each community ’s fair share of housing is determined through a process known as Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3605

The 2025-26 Budget: California’s Film Tax Credit

Feb 28, 2025 - As shown in Figure 1, California’s motion picture production workforce is by far the largest in the United States, over 2.5 times the size of its largest competitor (New York), and has held fairly steady in size over the last two decades.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - Figure  8 shows how this would play out if contributions and benefits continue to track with historical trends over the next two decades. As the figure shows, we do not expect the state to achieve solvency without the federal surcharge.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

Volatility of the Personal Income Tax Base

Feb 8, 2017 - From 1990 to 2014, California personal income grew fairly consistently, with only a limited degree of volatility. On the other hand, the state ’s PIT tax base was much more volatile than personal income.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3548