Emily Makings

Nine Steps to Budget Sustainability

Yesterday the second paper in the Thrive Washington series was released.  Nine Steps to Budget Sustainability in Washington State recommends changes to the state budget process and highlights areas requiring special attention. The steps are: 1. Manage the size and compensation of the state workforce to improve efficiency. 2. Improve budget transparency. 3. Reinstate a […]

I-1098 Roundup

The TaxProf blog has a roundup of local and national articles on the rejection of I-1098.

Total Votes Cast

After an election, I think it is interesting to see which issues or candidates actually persuaded voters to care enough to vote one way or another. This year, with all ballots not yet counted, the Secretary of State’s office is predicting very high turn out for a midterm election, and record amounts of money were […]

Thrive Washington

It’s clear from yesterday’s defeat of I-1098 and approval of I-1107 and I-1053 that Washington voters do not want to be taxed more. At the same time, the state budget status quo is unsustainable.  To make policy recommendations that will put state government on a better path, the Washington Roundtable and the Washington Research Council […]

60 Minutes on I-1098

Just in time for the election, yesterday 60 Minutes ran a segment on taxing the rich and Initiative 1098.  The Seattle Times’ Politics Northwest blog called it “a general overview of the campaign here, in the context of the national debate over increasing taxes on the rich.” (And they provide a link to the video.) […]

The Bigger Initiative Picture

An article in the Wall Street Journal today is worth reading.  It’s about what is going on with the Washington ballot initiatives: So look past the billionaires. At issue on this Washington ballot is how government is to respond when it is spending more money than it takes in. We have posted policy briefs on […]

Taxes Influence Decision-making

In a New York Times op-ed over the weekend, the economist Greg Mankiw, using himself as an example, illustrates how higher taxes on the rich incentivize them to work less, thereby providing fewer services to the non-rich.  The article is a response to the general idea of increasing taxes on the wealthy, in light of […]

Lessons From Canada

"Canada's Budget Triumph," a recent paper from David Henderson (published by the Mercatus Center) is well worth the read.  It is particularly instructive as Washington implements immediate spending cuts and faces a $4.5 billion deficit for the 2011-13 biennium. Back in 1993-94, Canada's federal debt to GDP ratio was 67 percent (and they were spending […]

Debt and Taxes

A Stateline article notes that nationally this year the bulk of the ballot initiatives focus on fiscal, rather than social issues.  This is certainly the case in Washington, where we have initiatives affecting taxes and state debt, among others.  Yesterday we posted policy briefs on two of these:  Referendum 52 and Initiative 1053. R-52 asks […]

Money They Don't Need

Nick Hanauer, a backer of I-1098, gave TechFlash a quote that he must have thought helped the cause: “For people like me and Jeff Bezos and Steve Ballmer, this is a very expensive tax. People where 99 percent of your income is above $500,000, this is a very expensive tax, and I get how it’s […]