Wow, Talk About Smoke and Mirrors -- Nothing About the Bakken

Link here to LA Times:

The agreement reached in Washington to avert the so-called fiscal cliff is generally good news for California finances, but it's still going to take a bite out of Gov. Jerry Brown's budget plans.

Legislation signed by President Obama on Wednesday won’t allow states to keep a portion of revenue from the federal estate tax, a levy on wealth inheritance.

California hasn’t received any revenue from the tax since 2004, and analysts doubted Congress would reverse course and restore the money. But Brown administration officials and Democratic lawmakers included the revenue when calculating the state’s current budget plan anyway.

The result means it will be harder to balance California's next budget than Brown administration figures suggested last year. Officials previously estimated receiving $335 million from the tax over the next year and a half.

The situation also affects the state's long-term financial plans, because officials projected that the tax would generate an increasing amount of money for California over the next few years. They estimated nearly $1.2 billion in revenue in the 2015-16 fiscal year.  

Wow.