Calif. revenue falling short - automatic cuts loom

Source: SF Chronicle

State Controller John Chiang delivered bad news Thursday when he reported that the state is collecting much less in taxes than expected so far this year, and he warned that mid-year trigger cuts to social services and higher education appear more likely to happen.

For the first four months of the fiscal year, California has collected $1.5 billion less in revenue than anticipated, Chiang said. Tax revenue for the month of October alone was short nearly $811 million.

Other state financial officials say it is too soon to predict whether trigger cuts will be needed and that month-to-month cash projections are increasingly unreliable, even as advocates for those who would be most impacted by the cuts say they are preparing for them.

The trigger cuts happen automatically Jan. 1 if revenue is projected to fall short by $1 billion for the entire fiscal year, according to the budget legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in June. The University of California and California State University systems would each lose $100 million in state aid. The department overseeing people with developmental disabilities and the In-Home Supportive Services program, which overlap with clients, would also lose $100 million each. Those cuts would come on top of reductions made earlier this year.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/11/MNCS1LSBTU.DTL

but honestly if we legalized pot, maybe just maybe we wouldn't have to cut funding for higher education and services that support the disabled and elderly.

of taking money away from those who need help the most, the cuts come from cutting lawmakers salaries to $0?

Brilliant!

and there's probably plenty of tax revenue to collect if they'd go after those big corporations...

it's all a fucking shell game... and the 1% continues to rape the masses...

are we done yet?

YOU are spot on it.

What ever happened to this? It came up a few years ago...

All they had to do was buy the yacht...and then park it just over the boarder
for something like 60 days. PRESTO! No sales tax to be paid.

Anyone?

The 99% want to know.

is that austerity approach working now?