California faces a projected budget deficit of $22.5 billion for the coming fiscal year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday, just days into his second term. It’s a sharp turnaround from last year’s $98 billion surplus.
The deficit, while unsurprising, could signal the end of a decade’s worth of economic growth in the nation’s most populous state.
Newsom, a Democrat, is proposing to close the hole by delaying spending in some areas and changing how others are funded. His budget appears to avoid significant cuts to most major programs, although it does lower proposed spending on climate change initiatives by about $6 billion. The state hopes to restore that spending in 2024 or offset it with federal money.
Among his climate maneuvers: He’ll shift $4.3 billon in spending on zero-emission vehicles from the state’s taxpayer-funded general fund to a special fund paid into by polluters. He’s also delaying by a year $3.1 billion in climate and transportation funding.
So Newsom the great blew an alleged 98 billion surplus into a 22.5 billion loss in one year. One wonders if the surplus was bullshit.
Clearly the fiscally responsible choice
Note that green bull shit is on the block because the Feds will burn that money for them
I once said on the shed that only rich capitalist countries can afford environmentalism. Seemed beyond argument but of course the leftists shouted it down. Look at the Soviet Union - a paradise of clean air and water like China
America could afford to clean some things up
Can't afford to blow cash on unicorns and rainbows.
