State coffers come up short - again

December turned out to be a lousy month on the tax collection front. Revenues came in $165.2 million below the latest projections in Gov. Brown's proposed budget - and they were $1.4 billion below estimates from last year's budget package. Since the fiscal year began in July, collections have fallen short of estimates by $2.5 billion. State Controller John Chiang says the numbers "create growing concern that legislative action may be needed in the near future to ensure that the State can meet its payment obligations." The state already faces $1 billion worth of budget cuts in the current fiscal year, based on lower-than-projected revenues. State analysts have been interpreting these monthly reports in various ways, with the optimists pointing out that a disproportionate share of revenues comes in later in the year. Also keep in mind that the economy has been improving - and that could lead to higher revenues. So the report might not be quite as bad as it seems. Here it is.