California Deficit now $16 Billion

California Deficit Swells to $16 Billion, Governor Brown Says

By Michael B. Marois - May 12, 2012 9:00 PM PT

California Governor Jerry Brown said his state’s budget deficit grew to $16 billion amid a tepid economic recovery that sapped tax collections even as actions by the federal government and courts blocked cost cutting measures.
The shortfall has widened from the $9.2 billion Brown estimated in January, after April income-tax revenue missed budget forecasts by $2 billion. He’s set to unveil a revised spending plan tomorrow and said he will need to make cuts even deeper than he has already proposed.
Brown, 74, set out an initial budget in January with $92.6 billion in spending for fiscal 2013, which begins in July. That plan stripped more than $4 billion from health and welfare programs while relying on higher income and sales taxes. The levy increases will go before voters in November. If rejected, schools will lose $4.8 billion midway through the year.
“We are still recovering from the worst recession since the 1930s,” Brown said yesterday in a YouTube video cited on his Twitter post. “Tax receipts are coming lower than expected and the federal government and the courts have blocked us from making billions of necessary budget reductions. The result is that we are now facing a $16 billion deficit.
“This means we will have to go much further and make cuts much greater than what I asked for at the beginning of the year,” Brown said. “We can’t fill a hole of this magnitude with cuts alone without doing severe damage to our schools. That’s why I have bypassed the gridlock and am asking you, the people of California to approve a plan to avoid further cuts to schools and public safety.”
Brown last week submitted more than 1.5 million signatures to place the tax measure on the ballot. It would temporarily raise the state sales tax, already the highest in the U.S., to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent. It would also boost rates on income starting at $250,000. The 10.3 percent levy on those making $1 million or more would rise to 13.3 percent, the most of any state.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net

end quote from:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-13/california-deficit-swells-to-16-billion-governor-brown-says.html

However, I have mentioned before that California is a complete paradox as a state. The people having problems in California the most are the poor, in public school or on food stamps or welfare. However, California also has more people making more than $200,000 a year likely than any other single place in the U.S.

As of 2009 the population of California was: 38,292,687  from:
http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/californiapopulation.htm

Since California is the most populous state in the nation and
East to West
North to South 560 miles: greatest distance East to West.
1,040 miles: greatest distance North to South

we have several large population centers the largest of which are Los Angeles County to the Mexican Border including San Diego County and the greater Sacramento Area and the San Francisco Greater Bay area which includes San Jose all the way north into Marin County and beyond and points east towards Vacaville. So, these areas have an incredible amount of wealthy people especially near the oceans and in the mountains. So, like I said California is a complete paradox. But, unlike all other recessions since World War II, California is not in the present position to lead the rest of the U.S. states out of this recession like it did all other recessions before since about 1940.