Looney spoke about the state’s difficulty in relying heavily on income taxes from the extremely wealthy, especially in the financial industry, whose incomes vary widely from years to year. He noted that someone who makes $100 million or more might pay $7 million in taxes one year and then reduce their income by half the next, with a concomitant drop in taxes.
“There is such a difference between the merely wealthy and the super, super wealthy,” he said.