(The Center Square) – California just filed its 2021-2022 audited financial statement, 350 days past the filing deadline. In its filing, the state admits that COVID-era unemployment fraud cost the state $29 billion that must be paid back to the federal government, and that in 2022, the state had $256 billion more in liabilities than it had in unrestricted resources.
After accounting for restricted resources, such as purpose-specific state trust funds and bonds, the state still owed $55 billion more than it had.
California currently faces a $73 billion deficit for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, to which the Democratic legislature has responded with a proposal to cut this year’s budget by $2.1 billion and a proposal to spend $12 billion, or half the state’s rainy day fund.
With the state reducing 2023 jobs growth from 325,000 to just 50,000, revenues are likely to be much lower than expected.
With a significant expansion of benefits, including expanding taxpayer-funded MediCal to all illegal immigrants, and a major shift in illegal immigration from heavily-enforced Texas to California instead, state expenditures could end up being higher than expected.
No comments:
Post a Comment