Unicorns that poop gold nuggets fail to materialize for Moonbeam; California tax revenues plunge more than 10% below projections

California's twice- (soon to be thrice-) failed Governor -- a man named Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown -- allegedly closed the state's yawning budget deficits this year by forecasting tax revenues well above the level a sane person might call "reasonable".



The result was... too. Easy. No, no, no: Too! EASY! To predict:

California’s tax revenues plummeted in July, falling more than 10% below expectations and making it more likely that deeper cuts to public schools built into the state budget in case of a stalled economic recovery will occur... Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers patched up the final $4 billion of California’s budget shortfall this year by hoping for a windfall economic recovery. Those hopes are now fading fast.



Tax collections in July were $538.8 million below budget forecasts.. sales and corporate collections lagged by a combined nearly $210 million. But the biggest drag was from the unidentified $4 billion that budget writers had banked on.



...Worse, the sagging tax collections were reported before the recent stock market turmoil. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged by more than 600 points on Monday. California relies very heavily on capital gains taxes from the stock taxes.

On a related note, Brown's multi-million dollar search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow also, sadly, came up dry.