Reparations to Black Californians could cost over $800bn, economists tell state

Estimate to compensate Black residents for generations of discrimination is over 2.5 times state’s annual budget

It could cost California more than $800bn to compensate Black residents for generations of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination, economists have told a state panel considering reparations.

The preliminary estimate is more than 2.5 times California’s $300bn annual budget, and does not include a recommended $1m per older Black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average life span. Nor does the figure count compensating people for property unjustly taken by the government or devaluing Black businesses, two other harms the taskforce says the state perpetuated.