"In prosperity we all grow over- nice," warns the chorus of Aeschylus's "Agamemnon". But harbingers of doom are as ignored in modern Sacramento as they were in Troy. California's lawmakers passed a $115.4 billion budget on June 19th. Their enthusiasm for expenditure was curbed somewhat by the state's more parsimonious governor, Jerry Brown, who persuaded legislators not to pass their preferred package-$2.1 billion larger. Higher-than-expected tax revenues so far this year inspired California's legislators to test their governor's generosity. The state's $2.3 trillion economy appears strong enough; unemployment is trending downwards, house prices are rising and incomes booming. But there is a catch. In 1950,10% of California's fiscal take came from income tax; by 2014 64% did. The Golden State depends too much on its fine crop of plutocrats, and its funds rise and fall with their fortunes. According to the Franchise Tax Board, the wealthiest 1% of Califor-nians accounted for more than half of all income tax collected in 2012.
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