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

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

Evaluation of a Tax Exemption for Zero-Emission Buses

Apr 15, 2024 - As such, ongoing General Fund commitments —including tax expenditures —should clear a very high bar of need. For example, it could make sense to limit these commitments to proven ways of (1)  addressing critical health and safety issues or (2)  preventing serious deterioration of core state responsibilities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4890

The 2024-25 Budget: Property Tax Postponement Program [EconTax Blog]

Feb 29, 2024 - Administrative Costs Are a Large Share of Program Expenditures. Administrative costs in 2022-23 were about $2.6 million —or nearly $2,000 per program participant. State administrative costs as a share of program expenditures are very high —projected to be over 30 percent of overall program spending and over 50 percent of revenue in 2024-25.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/800

The 2024-25 Budget: The Governor’s Proposition 98 Funding Maneuver

Feb 15, 2024 - This is because prior ‑year taxes usually have been filed and associated revenues collected by April of any given year. Due to the state conforming to federal tax filing extensions, however, the Legislature only gained a complete picture of 2022 ‑23 tax collections late in 2023 —after the fiscal year already ended.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4840

The 2024-25 Budget: Insolvency Risks for Environmental and Transportation Special Funds

Feb 27, 2024 - Typically, doing so requires increasing existing taxes or fees or establishing a new revenue stream. In some circumstances, fee or tax increases must be approved by the Legislature or by voters. In  other cases, the Legislature has granted the administration statutory authority to increase charges, sometimes up to a threshold or according to a schedule.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4858

The 2024-25 Budget: Sustainable Funding for the Department of Pesticide Regulation

Mar 5, 2024 - For instance, a single tax rate is easier for the state to administer and offers a more predictable revenue stream. It  also is simpler and more predictable for the entities that pay the tax. A flat increase also aligns with the recommendations in the independent contractor ’s report.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4873

The 2024-25 Budget: Child Care

Apr 15, 2024 - As part of the 2022 ‑23 budget package, the state eliminated the cannabis cultivation tax, which provided roughly one ‑fifth of Proposition  64 tax revenue. Recognizing the resulting fiscal risk, the budget package also established a target funding level for programs that receive Proposition  64 revenues (the “2020 ‑21  baseline ”) and included provisions intended to keep funding from falling below that target.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4893

Evaluation of a Tax Exemption for Zero-Emission Buses [Publication Details]

Apr 15, 2024 - Evaluation of a Tax Exemption for Zero-Emission Buses [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/4890

Overview of State Bond Debt Service [EconTax Blog]

Feb 27, 2024 - As shown in Figure 4, total annual debt service in 2022-23 was about 3.2  percent of General Fund expenditures, but only about 2.5  percent when looking only at the portion of debt service payments that are paid from the General Fund.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/798