The 2025-26 Budget: Partial Income Tax Exclusion for Military Retirement Income [EconTax Blog]

Feb 13, 2025 - Tax Expenditures Should Clear High Bar. Relative to spending proposals, tax expenditures tend to be reviewed less rigorously once they are adopted. Furthermore, again relative to spending proposals, assessing the effectiveness of tax expenditures is challenging given the limited information the state receives about taxpayers who benefit.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/820

The 2025-26 Budget: Partial Income Tax Exclusion for Military Retirement Income [EconTax Blog]

Feb 13, 2025 - Tax Expenditures Should Clear High Bar. Relative to spending proposals, tax expenditures tend to be reviewed less rigorously once they are adopted. Furthermore, again relative to spending proposals, assessing the effectiveness of tax expenditures is challenging given the limited information the state receives about taxpayers who benefit.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/820

Evaluating Tax Policy Changes in the Governor's Budget [EconTax Blog]

Feb 22, 2024 - Doing so would result in a less equitable tax system and would not offer meaningful administrative efficiencies. We recommend rejecting the proposed change. Approve Elimination of Tax Expenditures for Fossil Fuel Production.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/797

Understanding California Corporate Taxation: Apportionment [EconTax Blog]

Aug 11, 2026 - Apportionment Choices Are Tax-Base Design, Not Tax Expenditures. Single Sales Factor can increase taxes for some firms and reduce taxes for others, but it is not best understood as a tax expenditure in the same sense as a credit, deduction, or exemption.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/866

Understanding California Corporate Taxation: Net Operating Loss Deductions [EconTax Blog]

Aug 11, 2026 - The fact that some businesses benefit from NOL treatment does not by itself make that treatment a tax expenditure. At the same time, treating NOL rules as part of the baseline tax structure does not mean every feature of those rules is beyond reconsideration.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/865

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

Feb 28, 2025 - CFC reporting shows total expenditures associated with projects receiving a tax credit have averaged about $2.5  billion per year over the three most recent fiscal years. Relative to the gross domestic product of California ’s motion picture industry in 2023 of $54.4  billion, this represents a little under 5  percent of the sector.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000

The 2025-26 Budget: California’s Film Tax Credit [Publication Details]

Feb 28, 2025 - The 2025-26 Budget: California’s Film Tax Credit [Publication Details] Description: 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.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5000

An Update on California Competes [EconTax Blog]

Mar 10, 2023 - The figure below shows two measures of investments promised by California Competes tax credit recipients (1) capital investments per $1 of tax credit and (2) new jobs per $100,000 of tax credit (adjusted for inflation).
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/771

Sales Tax Exemption for Bunker Fuel

Nov 19, 2025 - Sales Tax Exemption for Bunker Fuel November 19, 2025 Sales Tax Exemption for Bunker Fuel Statutory Data Reporting Requirement. Chapter  442 of 2023 (AB  543, Gipson) extended a longstanding sales tax exemption for certain purchases of bunker fuel, also known as maritime fuel.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5094

Sales Tax Exemption for Bunker Fuel [Publication Details]

Nov 19, 2025 - Sales Tax Exemption for Bunker Fuel [Publication Details] Translate Our Website This Google ™ translation feature provided on the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) website is for informational purposes only.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5094