How bad is it?

Mac Taylor — legislative analyst — explains how bad it is:

1. We are coming off a very difficult year where we didn’t have a budget until September
2. We have a large ongoing deficit that’s not just going to go away on its own , even if we try to wait it out
3. The economy at large isn’t expected to get better until 2010.

Then, he describes what cuts-only/revenues only budgets would look like:

With taxes alone

• 2 cent sales tax
• 15 percent pit surcharge
• 2 % corporate tax.

With cuts alone?

• Eliminating funding for UC CSU
• Eliminate all funding for welfare
• Eliminate all funding for developmental services, mental health and IHSS

The sooner everyone acts, he said, the less harsh and less hard it will be to balance the 09-10 budget.