The reality that another fiscal crisis is hanging over the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget confirms that California’s budget is structurally unstable. The ideal response is short-term fiscal discipline to address the crisis and long-term tax and spending reforms to forge a fiscally sound path for the state.
It was not supposed to be this way. In the throes of last year’s budget turmoil, California’s spending plan at that time was supposed to bring stability. Yet here we are. Another May Revision, another budget deficit — this time for $12 billion.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom is right — the Trump tariffs are harming California’s economy and reducing tax revenues — the state’s current deficit and ongoing budget challenges are largely state-created. They result from years of poor spending choices and California’s excessively volatile revenue system. Consequently, resolving the current crisis and stabilizing the budget for the long-term requires responsible fiscal choices from Sacramento.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Can California afford costly climate change programs in a grim budget year?
Wayne H Winegarden
The reality that another fiscal crisis is hanging over the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget confirms that California’s budget is structurally unstable. The ideal response is short-term fiscal discipline to address the crisis and long-term tax and spending reforms to forge a fiscally sound path for the state.
It was not supposed to be this way. In the throes of last year’s budget turmoil, California’s spending plan at that time was supposed to bring stability. Yet here we are. Another May Revision, another budget deficit — this time for $12 billion.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom is right — the Trump tariffs are harming California’s economy and reducing tax revenues — the state’s current deficit and ongoing budget challenges are largely state-created. They result from years of poor spending choices and California’s excessively volatile revenue system. Consequently, resolving the current crisis and stabilizing the budget for the long-term requires responsible fiscal choices from Sacramento.
Read the entire Sacramento Bee op-ed here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.