California’s population may be declining, but its budget deficit keeps growing
Zachary Faria
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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) spent much of his debate with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) defending the Biden administration rather than his own state. Given that each new story out of California highlights just how incompetent Newsom’s leadership has been, it is hard to blame him.
The latest lowlight from California Democrats comes from the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, which is projecting a $58 billion budget deficit over the next three years after delayed tax payments came in $26 billion lower than expected. In May, California released a budget that contained major cuts to try and make up for a $32 billion budget deficit, or at least kick that can down the road a little further.
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All the while, though, California Democrats just keep on spending. They pushed ahead with a mandatory $25-an-hour minimum wage for medical employees that contains no delay mechanisms and will cost the state $4 billion in fiscal 2024 alone. California also jacked up the minimum wage for fast-food workers and has the ability to continue to do so every year through 2029, with fast-food restaurants raising their prices in response.
The vicious cycle then continues, with high taxes and ever-increasing prices driving low- and middle-class families out of California. That leads to a smaller and smaller tax pool for the state to drain money from to keep up with its spend-happy policies. That results in bigger budget cuts for things such as water storage, energy, and transportation. That leads to a lower quality of life, encouraging more people to move out as taxes remain high and prices continue to go up. And on and on it goes.
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That is why California lost some 500,000 people to other states from April 2020 to July 2022. A total of 138,000 people left in 2022. That declining population can and will also lead to California’s political power on the national stage diminishing. In the 2010 census, California failed to gain a House seat (and Electoral College vote) for the first time in the state’s history. In 2020, the state lost a seat for the first time, and it is now projected to lose five more in 2030.
Newsom and California Democrats are responsible for that, and for why states such as DeSantis’s Florida or Texas are more popular destinations for people fleeing damaging blue state policies. Newsom couldn’t defend his record in California because it is indefensible, and every week offers a new reminder of exactly why that is.