TAXES can work wonders!

[Savannahmann]

17. May I ask a couple questions?

I thought that California also used cuts coupled with the tax increases.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/07/news/economy/california-budget/

All of the state's budget figures and forecasts for the year are still guesswork. California will have a better idea of exactly how much revenue it will collect this year -- and whether it will still have a surplus -- when it issues its revised forecast in May.
Another risk is that lawmakers will want to restore many of the services and funding that were slashed during the Great Recession and its brutal aftermath. Brown has pledged continued fiscal constraint, but that can be difficult to accomplish politically.

Another question. If higher taxes is an excuse for companies to leave California and move to other states, like Texas, what does that do to the future forecasts of income for the State Government?

In 2011 it is reported that 254 companies left the state. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/moved-342887-companies-texas.html

In 2011, 254 California companies moved some or all of their work and jobs out of state, 26% more than in 2010, according to Irvine business consultant Joe Vranich who has been tracking these departures since 2009.

Twenty-eight of these companies were in Orange County. Seven of them moved or expanded to Texas, three to Mexico, two to Washington and one each to 16 other states, said Vranich, who has changed the name of his business from The Relocation Coach to Spectrum Location Solutions, which helps companies define their goals, find new locations and coordinate the move.

So with companies relocating, and the legislature certain to increase spending, how does the future budgets look?

IMO it's a balancing act. You can raise taxes, but only to the point where you drive your tax base away. So long as people have the freedom to relocate, then they will when they feel unwelcome.

So why would I post this? Because you left out half the story, the reductions in expenditures that the Governor has said he does not want to see returned to pre-cut levels. Many here would say that this budget surplus was bought on the backs of teachers and universities restricting education to the poorest among us. To a certain extent, I might agree. Obviously we can't afford everything, but I wonder about the wisdom of building new prisons while we are cutting education. Although that is probably a topic of another post. As I don't live in California, I don't know how the cuts effected the recipients of those programs. I don't know about cuts to social services like food stamps and the like. I'm too busy today or this week really to do any research, so I'll just point out that you left out half the contributing factor on the budget surplus and leave it at that.