
The General Fund has existed since the beginning of the State as a political entity. It is the principal operating fund for the majority of governmental activities and consists of all money received in the Treasury that is not required by law to be credited to any other fund. The Legislature created various special accounts within the General Fund that are reserved for particular activities.
What does the general fund pay for?
The general fund is the largest fund in the Government and it receives all collections not dedicated for some other fund, including virtually all income taxes and many ex- cise taxes. The general fund is used for all programs that are not supported by trust, special, or revolving funds.
What is the California state budget for 2022?
The budget spends $307.9 billion in total state funds, consisting of approximately $234.4 billion from the General Fund, $69.1 billion from special funds, and $4.4 billion from bond funds.
Where does the general fund get its money?
The major revenue sources for this fund are sales taxes, property taxes, franchise fees, business license fees, unrestricted revenues from the state, fines and forfeitures, and interest income.
What is the largest source of revenue for the state of California's general fund?
personal income taxThe largest source by far is personal income tax (which include capital gains revenue in addition to wages), followed by sales taxes and corporation taxes.
How much is in the California general fund?
According to NASBO, California's recent expenditure totals (general fund spending/total spending, including federal transfers) were: FY 2022: $163.5 billion.
How much is California state in debt?
Debt by State 2022StateState DebtPer Capita DebtCalifornia$152,772,292,000$3,819.78Pennsylvania$47,519,575,000$3,637.79North Dakota$2,885,664,000$3,605.30Maine$4,750,384,000$3,469.5646 more rows
What is a state's general fund used for?
The general fund is the primary state fund from which the ongoing expenses of state government are paid.
Is the general fund a governmental fund?
The general fund is a government's basic operating fund and accounts for everything not accounted for in another fund. Special revenue funds are intended to be used to report specific revenue sources that are limited to being used for a particular purpose, such as transportation aid.
Is the general fund always a major fund?
(The general fund is always considered a major fund, regardless of its individual balances.) You can report any other governmental or enterprise fund as a major fund if government officials believe the fund is particularly important to financial statement users.
Which state pays the most to the federal government?
States Most Dependent on the Federal GovernmentRankStateFederal Share of State Revenue1West Virginia45.16%2New Mexico41.80%3Mississippi47.31%4Alabama41.20%6 more rows•Apr 20, 2022
Does California pay the most federal taxes?
The gross collections total only reflects the revenue collected from the categories listed in the table, and not the entire revenue collected by the IRS....Fiscal Year 2017.State federal district or territoryGross collections ($)California440,475,243,000Texas270,955,237,000New York268,353,669,00050 more rows
What is the largest provider of money to the federal government?
About 50 percent of federal revenue comes from individual income taxes, 7 percent from corporate income taxes, and another 36 percent from payroll taxes that fund social insurance programs (figure 1).
How much is the California state budget?
The 2022-23 Governor's Budget proposes spending of $286.4 billion in total state funds, consisting of approximately $213.1 billion from the General Fund, $65.3 billion from special funds, and $8 billion from bond funds.
Does California have a surplus in 2022?
On May 13, 2022, Governor Newsom presented a revised state budget proposal to the Legislature (called the “May Revision”). At the time of the May Revision, and under the administration's revenue estimates, we estimated the Governor had a $52 billion surplus to allocate in the 2022‑23 budget process.
Does CA have a budget deficit?
California's Fiscal Outlook We find the budget situation has improved considerably relative to the June budget act with an estimated $26 billion windfall in 2021-22. However, the state also faces an operating deficit beginning in 2021-22 and throughout the outlook period, growing to $17 billion by 2024-25.
Has the California state budget passed?
SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today signed a $308 billion state budget that provides direct tax refunds for 23 million Californians to help address rising costs, tackles the state's most pressing needs, builds our reserves, and invests in California's future.
What is a general fund?
The figures below apply to state general funds. According to NASBO, a general fund is "the predominant fund for financing a state's operations. Revenues are received from broad-based state taxes.".
What are the three primary sources of general fund revenue?
Revenues are received from broad-based state taxes.". The three primary sources of general fund revenue are personal income tax, sales tax, and corporate income tax collections. Taken together, these three sources accounted for an estimated 78.7 percent of all general fund revenues in fiscal year 2014, which is roughly equal to ...

Education
- Early Education
Removes Unused Early Education Funds. The budget plan makes $161 million in ongoing reductions to State Preschool ($130 million Proposition 98 General Fund and $31 million non‑Proposition 98 General Fund). Most of these funds are prior‑year augmentations that were … - K‑14 Education
Reduces School and Community College Funding to Reflect Lower Minimum Requirement. Proposition 98 (1988) established a minimum annual funding requirement for schools and community colleges. This minimum requirement depends upon various formulas that adjust for …
Cost Shifts and Borrowing
- Special Fund Loans and Transfers. In past recessions, the state made loans from other state accounts, known as special funds, to the General Fund to address budget problems. The General Fund must eventually repay these loans with interest. The spending plan again makes use of this tool, making $3 billion in loans from a wide range of special funds. Included with these loans is c…
Covid‑19 Spending
- State Spending on COVID‑19
$2.2Billion Allocated Under DREOA, SB89, and SB117. Before the final budget process began in May, the state incurred about $2.2 billion in COVID‑19 expenditures under the authority provided by SB 89, SB 117, and DREOA (as described earlier). These funds were allocated to fulfill a wide … - Federal Coronavirus Relief Fund
Budget Allocates $9.5Billion in CRF. Congress established the CRF to provide money to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments for “necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019” that are incurred between Mar…
Other Major Features
- Safety Net Programs
Medi‑Cal. The spending plan allocates $115.4 billion total funds ($23.6 billion General Fund) in 2020‑21 to Medi‑Cal local assistance in the Department of Health Care Services. This reflects an increase of $15.9 billion total funds—or 16 percent—over 2019‑20 estimated spending. (General … - Funding for Local Governments
In addition to the CRF funding provided to local governments, which is described in the previous section, the spending plan allocates General Fund monies to local governments for a variety of purposes, in particular realignment and housing. This section describes these programs in mor…