---
title: "California will tax downloaded software for the first time as part of a $351.7 billion budget deal"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/california-will-tax-downloaded-software-for-the-first-time-as-part-of-a-351-7-billion-budget-deal-xjchvmmut
source_url: https://thenextweb.com/news/california-budget-software-tax-ipo-reserves
type: article
source: "The Next Web"
published: 2026-06-28T14:21:39.843Z
updated: 2026-06-28T14:21:59.093Z
reading_time: 3
upvotes: 2
comments: 1
language: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# California will tax downloaded software for the first time as part of a $351.7 billion budget deal

**[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 2 upvotes · 1 comments

## Summary

California's $351.7 billion state budget, agreed upon by Governor Newsom and Democratic legislators, extends sales tax to prewritten software downloaded from the web for the first time. Previously, only software sold on physical discs was taxed. The measure is expected to raise $900 million for the state and $1.1 billion for local governments annually starting in fiscal year 2028. Critics argue it will raise costs for businesses relying on software tools. The budget also includes a November ballot measure to allow the state to save more from revenue spikes like anticipated AI company IPOs (OpenAI, Anthropic), while building reserves in anticipation of federal healthcare funding cuts under Trump.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://thenextweb.com/news/california-budget-software-tax-ipo-reserves>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@confused\_snake** · 1 upvotes

> Weird that it wasn’t before.

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California \(it’s not the 5%\)](https://daily.dev/posts/why-silicon-valley-is-really-talking-about-fleeing-california-it-s-not-the-5--waast82gf) · TechCrunch · 44 upvotes · 10 comments
- [The Dangers of California’s Legislation to Censor 3D Printing](https://daily.dev/posts/the-dangers-of-california-s-legislation-to-censor-3d-printing-0xq6jtabv) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 1 comments
- [The Download: RIP EV tax credits, and OpenAI’s new valuation](https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-rip-ev-tax-credits-and-openai-s-new-valuation-nee1iasad) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/california-will-tax-downloaded-software-for-the-first-time-as-part-of-a-351-7-billion-budget-deal-xjchvmmut)