Cash report is a puzzle

The state controller's cash report for the first two months of the fiscal year is out. It is a bit of a puzzle, although two months is not very far along in a twelve-month fiscal year.

According to the report, over $600 million in unanticipated revenue arrived in July and August. But around half of that is in a category called "not elsewhere classified." And if you poke around in the report to find out what's in "not elsewhere classified," you will discover that much of the extra revenue there came from "miscellaneous."

Apart from that puzzle, about a fourth of the extra revenue came from the personal income tax, a reminder that the condition of the state budget is heavily dependent on a volatile source.

You can do your own puzzling over the cash report at http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/02_August_2015.pdf