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Re: Vermont Goes Single Payer!!!!
BTW, did you actually read the entire article or just the title?
Yet several questions hang over California’s finances. First are the state’s “hidden” obligations. During the lean years, accounting tricks and the shuffling of revenues from one fund to another created a “wall of debt” worth around $35 billion. Mr Brown says this will fall to $4.7 billion within four years. The state also owes the federal government over $10 billion for unemployment-insurance payments. And, like other states, California faces obligations to retired state workers that are not even close to being fully funded. The teachers’ pension fund, for example, wants $4.5 billion more a year. This would immediately swallow up this year’s surplus, and drain the budget for another three decades. But if politicians continue to ignore the problem, says Bill Lockyer, the state treasurer, the system will “implode”
A second difficulty arises from California’s dependence on income and capital-gains taxes, particularly from the wealthy. The richest 1% in the state pay 40% (and in some years, more) of income taxes, which in turn account for over 60% of general-fund revenues. This makes California highly vulnerable to swings in the business cycle. This problem has defeated previous administrations; Mr Brown understands it but shows no urge to tackle it. Last year’s income-tax rise, which lifted the top marginal rate to 13.3% (and expires in 2018), made it worse.
Third, and thorniest of all, is the set of problems arising from California’s distinctive approach to policymaking. Over the years voters have passed an array of laws on taxation and spending (usually lowering the former while raising the latter). Emily Raimes, an analyst at Moody’s, says the resulting budgetary inflexibility can take much of the blame for California’s low credit rating (only Illinois fares worse). For years budgets needed a two-thirds vote to pass the legislature, which guaranteed gridlock. That provision has now been removed, but tax rises still require a supermajority, which is why Mr Brown had to turn to the voters instead.
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