Report: California Payroll Taxes Need 2117% Hike to Cover Insolvent Unemployment

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office now says unemployment insurance taxes on businesses must rise by 2117% nearly a year after declaring the state’s unemployment benefits program “structurally insolvent.” The LAO’s new report explains that the state’s unemployment fund runs a structural deficit of $2 billion per year, beyond the $20 billion debt and $1 billion in annual interest payments to the federal government to help cover $55 billion in fraudulent COVID lockdown-era benefits payments. These interest payments are paid by the state’s general fund, while the existence of unemployment benefits debt to the federal government triggers automatic tax increases of $21 per employee per year after two years of unpaid debt.