evidence: Last month, California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, or LAO, which is the nonpartisan state department that advises California’s policymakers on the state’s fiscal issues, increased their estimate for the state’s 2024–25 budget deficit to $73 billion. This estimate substantially exceeds Gavin Newsom’s estimate of a $38 billion deficit. Both estimates stand in sharp contrast to the state’s $100 billion surplus from two years earlier. [...] California’s constitution requires a balanced budget. But despite a projected deficit that is almost twice as high as it was during the financial crisis, Sacramento has offered little in the way of specifics for dealing with this. I expect Newsom will declare a fiscal emergency, which would allow the state to substantially tap into California’s $23 billion "rainy day" fund. Newsom recently stated that he and legislators agreed on reducing the budget gap by $12 billion–$18 billion, but neither he nor Democrats in the State Senate or Assembly indicated how this was to be achieved. [...] Some state legislators are looking for new taxes, including a wealth tax, which would ultimately devastate California. Newsom states he opposes new taxes, but $73 billion isn’t chump change, and California’s constitution requires a balanced budget to begin on July 1.