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

California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - After the dot-com bust and the Great Recession, it took four and five years, respectively, for revenues to recover. Incorporating revenue risk into the budget now, therefore, reflects prudence, not pessimism.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

Oversight of certain public benefit artificial intelligence (AI) companies. [Ballot]

Jan 20, 2026 - The measure would have the following major fiscal effects: Increased state costs that would likely be in the tens of millions of dollars annually to establish and operate a new regulatory commission overseeing certain public benefit AI com panies.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-033

2025 Update: Tech Company Stock Pay Accounts for One-Quarter of Withholding Growth So Far in 2025-26 [EconTax Blog]

Dec 3, 2025 - The state ’s five largest tech companies —Apple, Google, Nvidia, Broadcom, and Meta —are currently worth $15 trillion. Including California ’s other large technology firms, the state ’s tech companies make up more than 60 percent of the total value of the Nasdaq 100 index, a list of the 100 most valuable companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/843

2025 Update: Tech Company Stock Pay Accounts for One-Quarter of Withholding Growth So Far in 2025-26 [EconTax Blog]

Dec 3, 2025 - The state ’s five largest tech companies —Apple, Google, Nvidia, Broadcom, and Meta —are currently worth $15 trillion. Including California ’s other large technology firms, the state ’s tech companies make up more than 60 percent of the total value of the Nasdaq 100 index, a list of the 100 most valuable companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/843

The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - For California, the dot ‑com era —when stocks rose and then fell precipitously in response to widespread adoption of the internet —offers the most salient example. The internet has proven to be a transformative technology and, yet, the stock market ’s initial reaction was clearly overly exuberant.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - In March of 2004, on the heels of the dot ‑com bust, voters passed Proposition  58, which created the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA). In the 2006 ‑07 budget, the Legislature deposited $472  million into the BSA and in 2007 ‑08 deposited $1.5  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - During the phase ‑in period, the state also entered the dot ‑com recession. These two cost pressures absorbed the remaining flexibility in the state ’s UI tax system. As  shown in Figure  4 , the state began this period in Schedule C but quickly moved to Schedule F+, the highest tax schedule, where it has remained since.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

Update: Tech Company Equity Pay Driving Withholding in 2024 [EconTax Blog]

Nov 20, 2024 - California's technology companies, including giants like Apple, Google, Nvidia, and Meta, are some of the most valuable companies in the world and support thousands of high-paying jobs in the state. Many employees at these companies receive equity pay, such as stock options and restricted stock units, in addition to their base salary.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/815