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By Kimberly Beltran
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Buoyed by rising employment and Wall Street profit-taking, along with voter-approved tax increases, California finished its 2012-13 fiscal year on a strong note with revenues coming in some $2 billion more than was forecast, according to new figures from the state’s fiscal officers.
The state’s economic picture was especially rosy in June, with revenues topping Gov. Jerry Brown’s May budget projection of $11.9 billion by $1.2 billion, State Controller John Chiang reported earlier this month. Total revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, Chiang said, was $100.1 billion – slightly more than the total reported by Brown’s Department of Finance, which said year-to-date revenues were $98.637 billion.
While this news clearly reflects the resurgence of the state’s economy, Chiang urged caution and fiscal constraint moving forward.
“Rising employment, economic expansion and voter-approved tax increases have generated revenues outperforming even the rosiest of projections,” Chiang said in a statement. “However, California’s history of boom or bust revenue cycles should be a cautionary tale that informs our spending decisions and incentivizes policymakers to prudently pay down accumulated debt.”
All three major revenue categories – personal income, corporate and sales taxes – produced revenues that beat expectations. Leading the way were personal income tax receipts that surpassed estimates by $645 million, or 8.7