Column: Newsom’s budget plan reflects his rosy view of the economy
LA TimesGavin Newsom discusses his proposed state budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year during a news conference in Sacramento on Wednesday. Gavin Newsom chose to take a relatively rosy view of the 2024 economy Wednesday in sending the Legislature a roughly $292-billion spending plan for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. That meant Newsom and legislators didn’t know how much tax revenue to expect before passing the current budget in June. One long-sought reform that has never gained traction is to broaden the tax base: Reduce California’s highest-in-the-nation 13.3% income tax rate and extend the sales tax to services, such as legal and accounting. Anyway, Newsom said, he prefers to keep California’s very progressive income tax system and simply save more money in good times to use in bad times.