State services tax on the table in 2016; reform plan includes income tax cuts

Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, shared the stage in Newport Beach with former Republican Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle. Part of the current problem is that the state currently relies on 65 percent of its revenue from a widely fluctuating income-tax stream. The top 1 percent of earners accounted for 22 percent of the state's personal income but 45 percent of the state's income tax revenue. That volatility was particularly on display when state's income tax revenue dropped from $56 billion in 2008 to $