There is no problem, Roy!  Accept your full pay and then write a check to the general fund of the state for the 5%, and get a letter from the state saying the 5% you sent was a charitable contribution.  No tax liability that way.

I understand his thought process. If I were being asked to give up part of my pay I'd want to know where it would be going.

Funny, I don't have any say in my upcoming pay cut or where the saved money is spent. This is why I keep saying we need to overturn the law that forbids mandating pay cuts for state legislators currently in office. Because invariably there will be people pulling excuses like this one. I'd also like to see the legislators share the same burden (10% cuts) as the state workers have been given with the furloughs, particularly if the rumors I've heard of 3 days of furloughs for most state workers and 8-10% pay cuts for non-furloughed workers like teachers turns out to be true.

Roy and Shwaine make interesting points, but ... 

I'm thinkin' radical today (obviously, not rational). 

What if we all just calculated what a 5% reduction in our income/retirement/etc. would be and sent that tax deductible amount to the State of California?  Five percent of the gross (or net, if you want) income of every resident, business and corporation of CA would be a lot of dough.  You know, all share the pain to get the gain, right? 

That of course begs the question:  "Would any amount of money bail this State out of the incompetence, misplanning and mismanagement that got us here in the first place?"

If you think that's true, then you probably think that pouring money into the pockets of your over-charged-credit-carded and "fiscally" bankrupt kid will bring him/her to their senses of living within their means!

I've also been saying that management/administration needs to be cut, as in removing jobs entirely, for quite a while Reformer. I heard someone describe our job pyramid (many "grunts" at the bottom and a few "bosses" at top) as more of a job rectangle in California. There is an overabundance of unnecessary management-type positions. What we need is an efficiency expert to come in and cut all the cruft.

 The people who actually do the work are cut while those in administrative/management positions, who figured out how to cut the "workers" rarely decide to cut themselves.  Most school principals could be cut tomorrow and replaced with a couple of "lead" teachers at each location (keeping the school secretary who handles most administrative duties anyway).  Then reset school area boundaries back to neighborhoods, eliminate most buses and get the many obese students walking to those neighborhood schools.

the deep thinker has it this time.  Unfortunately it has taken him his entire career to get to this point!

Just where has the money gone Roy?

"The question I have asked is: Where does the money go?"

You voted for it, Royboy.  Maybe you shoulda read the state budget first.