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California's AI Revenue Trap: Tech Giants Replace Taxpayers With Tax-Free Automation

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California tax revenue getting a boost from AI boom — but for how long? | KPBS Public Media Key Features of the Visualization: Main Chart (Top): Shows three distinct trajectory scenarios: Scenario 1 (Orange): Managed Decline - assumes moderate job losses and some emergency measures work (deficit reaches ~$50B by 2035) Scenario 2 (Red): Accelerated Exodus - most likely path with aggressive AI adoption + regulatory-driven relocations (deficit reaches ~$108B by 2035) Scenario 3 (Dark Red): Constitutional Crisis - robot tax fails, remaining companies flee (deficit reaches ~$145B by 2035) Bottom Left Chart: Shows the dual impact: Cumulative job losses (bars) reaching 1.4 million by 2035 Annual tax revenue lost (line) reaching $28B by 2035 Bottom Right Chart: Revenue composition showing: AI stock-option withholding peaking then collapsing Other income tax declining Other revenue sources (sales, property) slowly eroding Critical Thresholds Highlighted: $50-80B range: Crisis ter...
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California Court Ruling on Climate Liability Raises Stakes for Refiners—and National Security

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In re Fuel Industry Climate Cases :: 2026 :: California Courts of Appeal Decisions :: California Case Law :: California Law :: U.S. Law :: Justia TL;DR: A California appeals court ruled that Citgo can be sued for climate damages based solely on distributing gasoline in the state decades ago—even without refining operations there. The January 5 decision expands potential liability across the fossil fuel supply chain as California's refining capacity shrinks by 20% and fuel prices hit record highs. The ruling triggers unresolved constitutional questions about whether state courts can regulate global climate impacts affecting interstate commerce and national defense, with Supreme Court review likely within 2-3 years. California's expanding climate litigation collides with a contracting fuel supply, raising fundamental questions about who pays for climate adaptation—and whether state courts can impose that burden on a global industry with national security implications. The Fi...
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California's Bullet Train Gambit

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California drops suit over federal funds, seeks private investors for bullet train California's $35 Billion Train to Nowhere: How a Bait-and-Switch Left Taxpayers Funding a Rail Line Nobody Needs The Central Valley segment now consuming billions in public funds was never what voters authorized—and serves no identified transportation demand in one of America's least-traveled corridors California's high-speed rail project entered a new phase this week when state officials quietly dropped their lawsuit against the Trump administration over $4 billion in withdrawn federal funding. But the decision to forge ahead without federal partnership obscures a more fundamental problem: the segment currently under construction serves virtually no transportation need and represents a dramatic departure from what voters authorized in 2008. When Californians narrowly approved Proposition 1A sixteen years ago, they were promised a transformative rail system connecting San Francisco to Los ...
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