Things continue to look up in California.

Things continue to look up in California.

California income and corporation tax collections surged in December, pushing estimated tax revenue since July to about $3.6 billion above what lawmakers projected when they approved the current budget, according to preliminary totals compiled by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. Preliminary income tax totals in December came in about $1.5 billion above what the budget projected for the month. Net corporation tax collections topped budget estimates by $500 million, according to the LAO. That total – for just one month – is almost as much as the $2.5 billion that the LAO recently projected state revenue would exceed budget estimates for all of 2014-2015.

Republican-led states like Kansas, Wisconsin and Arizona are suffering mightily because of their addiction to tax cuts (which, it turns out, are actually not paying for themselves at all). The flip side of that coin? The latest news from California, which is getting revenues that are much higher than expected Remember how Republicans used to mock California as a failed state? Greece on the Pacific? Well, a few years ago, voters kicked Republicans out of power and changed the absurd supermajority budget requirements that had given minority conservatives veto power over state government. The result? With voter approval, the state raised taxes on the highest income earners to fund education. It started to reinvest in water and transportation infrastructure and rebuild the social safety net. It completed the implementation of a robust cap-and-trade program to restrict carbon emissions and fund sustainability projects. And the result? A rapidly growing economy and surging tax revenue.

The results are in: one way of governing works. The other doesn't.