California: Nevada

Last week I took Jerry Brown to task for repeating the right-wing canard that tax increases will cause jobs and the wealthy to flee the state. Here's what he told the Chronicle's Carla Marinucci:
Still, "I would not be advocating new taxes, I'll tell you that," he said. Already, California is "one of the highest tax states around," he said. "So we've got to be competitive. We can't drive all the jobs out and tax the few people who stay."

A similar debate has been playing out in New York State, where progressives have been arguing for higher income taxes on the wealthy to close that state's budget gap.

The immensity of California's budget crisis is shown in a new 50-state fiscal survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures, indicating that California's income-outgo gap is nearly a third of the current state budget deficits for entire nation.

California's current shortfall has been pegged by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at $15-plus billion while the new NCSL study says all states are reporting a $47.4 billion problem. Schwarzenegger says the state faces another $25 billion deficit 2009-10 and NCSL says that, too, approaches a third of the national state budget deficit of $84.3 billion.

While California's projected 2009-10 deficit of 22.3 percent of general fund spending is among the nation's worst in proportionate terms, there are states facing more horrendous deficits, including Nevada at 37.6 percent, Arizona at 28.2 percent and New York at 24.3 percent.

The full state-by-state report is accessible here.