California officials are aware of these risks also. I give a lot of credit to Gov Brown for constantly reminding the state legislators that the good times won'

California officials are aware of these risks also. I give a lot of credit to Gov Brown for constantly reminding the state legislators that the good times won't last forever. The challenge with a tax system that draws so heavily from top earners is that you have greater ups (during boom times, like the current) and greater downs (during recessions, like 2008-2010). Moreover, such a huge amount of California's tax haul is due to one-time events such as stock and real estate sales which are even more amplified during boom times.