Mary Strow

Policy Today podcast: Housing affordability in the Puget Sound

Lew Moore Stepping Down as President and CEO of Research Council

Lew Moore announced today that he will be stepping down as president of the Washington Research Council sometime after the first of the year. He has led the organization, which specializes in government policy research and analysis, for the last three years. Moore intends to pursue business and policy interests in Utah, where he currently […]

Policy Today podcast: Dr. Rick Evans on how computer science can improve economics

Policy Today podcast: Seattle's surprisingly robust manufacturing industry

Seattle Tops Nation in Home Price Increases

Barron’s reported yesterday that Seattle currently leads the nation in home price increases. According to the most recent S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, Seattle, Portland, and Las Vegas reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities. In July, Seattle led the way with a 13.5% year-over-year price increase, followed by Portland with a 7.6% increase, and […]

New Special Report on Manufacturing Jobs (Part I)

We’re out today with Part One of a series of special reports on manufacturing jobs in Washington state. “Rebalancing Priorities: The Case for Manufacturing Jobs, Part I” covers the role of manufacturing in Washington’s economy, and discusses Gov. Jay Inslee’s recent veto of a tax reduction for state manufacturing. Our series on manufacturing will focus […]

Tax Foundation reports on worldwide corporate tax rates; U.S. among highest

Last week the Tax Foundation issued a report on corporate tax rates around the globe. In terms of statutory tax rates (the rate as written in law, as opposed to the effective rate which is the amount actually paid), the U.S. has the fourth highest in the world and the highest among industrialized countries. From […]

Policy Today podcast: McCleary Part 2 – Tax Revenues

Today’s episode covers the new tax revenues in the recently passed K-12 basic education funding law, which the State of Washington hopes will fulfill its obligations in the Supreme Court’s McCleary ruling. Click here to read our Special Report on the new K-12 basic education law.

Policy Today podcast: McCleary Part 1 – Policy and Funding

Today we’re discussing the K-12 education funding bill passed by the state Legislature, in response to the state Supreme Court’s McCleary ruling on basic education. In this episode we cover funding and policy changes; in the next episode we’ll cover tax revenues. To read our Special Report on the McCleary bill, click here.

Tax Foundation says the rich in America didn't pay significantly higher taxes in the 1950s

Recently The Tax Foundation looked into the commonly held belief that rich Americans used to pay much higher income taxes in the 1950s than they do today. It found that the difference between then and now isn’t actually that significant: The data shows that, between 1950 and 1959, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid […]