If you want an idea of what’s wrong with the budget we’ve just passed here in California, then head on over to the California Budget Project’s “Budget Bites” blog (where they post ongoing updates on various budget related issues). Here’s a sample: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

In a nutshell, by changing the way the increase in the California income tax will be calculated, from a 5% “surtax” to a 0.25% increase, “this late night change dramatically shifted the impact of the personal income tax increase downward on to low- and middle-income taxpayers, in contrast to a previously considered proposal that would have had a flat impact across the income distribution.” The accompanying graph on the posting illustrates this point quite starkly.
You can thank “moderate” Republican Abel Maldanado for the regressiveness of this tax increase (it was part of the price the Legislature’s Democrats paid to persuade him to cast the last vote required to pass the budget in the state’s upper house). I can’t think of anything that better illustrates the Republicans’ insistence on engaging in class war against working and middle-class folks than taking a “flat tax”, and making it aggressively regressive (the less money you make, the more regressive it is)!
They also have entries that go into detail on the $1.5 billion dollar annual tax break given to multi-state/national corporations as a part of this deal, etc.