A blistering new report from California’s own State Auditor has confirmed what taxpayers have long suspected: under one-party Democrat rule, the Golden State has become a black hole for public money. According to the auditor’s 2025 findings, more than $70 billion in taxpayer funds have been squandered, lost, or outright wasted across a wide range of state programs—an astonishing sum that underscores a culture of incompetence and mismanagement at the highest levels of state government.
The report, which aggregates findings from multiple audits, places eight major state agencies on a “high risk” watch list for fraud, waste, and abuse. Among the most alarming revelations is California’s CalFresh program, the state’s version of SNAP. Thanks to federal changes and lax oversight embraced by Sacramento Democrats, improper payments could cost taxpayers an additional $2.5 billion every single year if left unchecked.
And that’s just the beginning.
California has poured a staggering $24 billion into homelessness programs with little to show for it beyond growing tent cities, rising crime, and bureaucrats shrugging their shoulders when asked where the money went. At the same time, the state’s much-hyped high-speed rail project has burned through $18 billion without laying a single completed stretch of track—a monument to progressive vanity projects that enrich consultants while delivering nothing to working families.
The rot extends even further. The Department of Finance, tasked with distributing COVID-19 relief funds, oversaw what critics estimate to be as much as $32 billion stolen by fraudsters. Add in massive unemployment insurance fraud, crumbling infrastructure like deteriorating dams, and a failed 911 system upgrade that Californians were surcharged for years to fund—only for the state to scrap the entire project and start over—and the picture becomes unmistakably clear.
Reacting to the report, Kevin Kiley didn’t mince words, calling California the “fraud capital of America.” He pointed out the absurdity of a state that sits next to Silicon Valley being unable to make basic government technology work. “We’re very close to the most advanced tech hub on Earth,” Kiley said, “and yet the government can’t figure out how to run a 911 system. So they’re scrapping it and starting over—completely wasting the money.”
The outrage quickly spilled onto social media, where Californians vented their fury at a government that seems far more interested in virtue signaling than basic stewardship. One mother shared a personal nightmare, saying someone inside the state is using her daughter’s Social Security number, yet the Employment Development Department refuses to help identify the culprit. Another user went straight for the top, asking when anyone would audit Gavin Newsom, especially after his purchase of a multi-million-dollar estate on a governor’s salary that barely cracks six figures.
None of this is happening in a vacuum. California’s crisis is the predictable result of years of progressive governance that prioritizes expansive programs without accountability, hands out taxpayer money with minimal safeguards, and demonizes anyone who dares ask basic questions about results. While Democrats lecture the rest of the country about compassion and competence, their own state auditor is documenting one of the largest government waste scandals in modern American history.
For millions of Californians struggling with high taxes, soaring living costs, and declining public services, the report is more than a spreadsheet of failures—it’s a damning indictment of a political class that has lost touch with reality. And until accountability returns to Sacramento, taxpayers can expect the bill to keep growing.
