How much of California's General Fund came from personal income tax, corporation tax, and sales tax in FY 2022–23, FY 2023–24, and FY 2024–25?
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Executive summary
California’s published materials provide a clear, quantifiable picture for at least one year: personal income tax (PIT) accounted for roughly 60 percent of the General Fund in FY 2023–24 based on the State Controller’s trackers, but statewide documents differ in definitions and timing and do not supply a complete, comparable three‑year breakdown for PIT, corporation tax, and sales tax across FY 2022–23 through FY 2024–25 [1] [2]. Available state forecasts and budget analyses note that PIT is by far the largest single General Fund source, that revenues fell in 2022–23, and that the administration’s accounting (before transfers and fund‑shares) can produce higher PIT shares—explaining apparent discrepancies between documents [3] [2].
1. The clearest hard number — FY 2023–24 PIT and the share of the General Fund
The State Controller’s November/April trackers record the Budget Act’s PIT expectation for 2023–24 and show total PIT revenues of about $147.32 billion against total General Fund revenues of $246.05 billion in the same document, implying PIT comprised roughly 59.9 percent of the General Fund in the 2023–24 Budget Act figures (calculation based on figures reported in the State Controller trackers) [1].
2. Why some official documents say “over 67 percent” for PIT in 2023–24
The Governor’s revenue documents and revenue‑estimate tables present PIT on a different basis—often “before transfers” or excluding shares assigned to special funds (for example, Mental Health Services Fund) and sometimes reporting only the General Fund’s portion of PIT—producing statements that PIT constitutes over two‑thirds of General Fund resources in 2023–24; those methodological differences—definition of denominator, timing of transfers, and whether off‑budget fund shares are removed—explain the higher 67% framing in revenue estimate materials [2].
3. Corporation tax and sales tax — the public record’s limits for the three‑year ask
The assembled sources do not provide a single, consistent table showing the dollar amounts or percentage shares of corporation tax and sales tax to the General Fund for FY 2022–23, FY 2023–24, and FY 2024–25 side‑by‑side; the Controller’s monthly cash reports and the Governor’s revenue estimates contain the underlying receipts and projections, but the excerpts provided here do not include the full three‑year line items needed to report precise corporation tax and sales tax shares for each year [4] [2]. Because those granular line items and reconciliations are not included in the supplied snippets, a definitive three‑year numeric breakdown for those two taxes cannot be stated solely from these materials.
4. What the budget analyses say about the three‑year context
Budget analysts and the Legislative Analyst’s Office emphasize that revenues dropped in 2022–23, prompting large adjustments and that much of recent spending relied on one‑time resources—context that matters because volatile PIT receipts (notably capital gains) drive year‑to‑year swings and therefore the share attributed to corporation and sales taxes changes with the PIT denominator [3] [5]. The LAO and CalBudget Center explain that temporary allocations and shifting Proposition 98 calculations further complicate year‑to‑year comparability of revenue shares [5] [6].
5. Bottom line and how to get the exact three‑year numbers
From the sources supplied, the only explicit, verifiable numeric ratio available here is that FY 2023–24 PIT revenues equaled about $147.32 billion versus $246.05 billion in General Fund revenues (≈59.9%) per the State Controller’s tracker [1]; other official documents characterize PIT as an even larger share when using alternate bases [2]. The supplied excerpts do not include the full receipts tables for corporation tax and sales tax for FY 2022–23 and FY 2024–25; to produce the precise three‑year breakdown the State Controller’s Monthly Statements of General Fund Cash Receipts and Disbursements and the Department of Finance/Governor’s Revenue Estimates (full tables for FY 2022–23 through FY 2024–25) must be consulted and reconciled for consistent accounting definitions [4] [2].