Kriss Sjoblom

One More Time: Revenue Forecast Reduced Again

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council met yesterday and adopted revised forecasts of general fund revenues for the current (2009–11) and upcoming (2011–13) biennia. For 2009–11, the new forecast is $28,127 million, a decrease of $385 million from the September forecast. Of this decrease, $64 million is due to the passage of Initiative 1107, which […]

Economic and Revenue Update

The state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (EFRC) yesterday issued its monthly Economic and Revenue Update (available here). The November Update is the second since EFRC’s September revenue forecast, and, as was the case in October, collections have come in above forecast. Major General Fund-State (GF-S) revenues for the October 11, 2010 – November 10, […]

Employment Growth: Metro Seattle vs. the Bay Area

The chart below compares job growth since 1990 in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Employment is seasonally adjusted and indexed so that in each case the January 1990 value is equal to 100. The Seattle MSA (comprising King, Snohomish and Pierce Counties) had 28.1 percent more jobs in August […]

Initiatives 1100 and 1105: Ending the State's Liquor Monopoly

We have posted a brief on Initiatives 1100 and 1105, either of which would end the state’s liquor monopoly. This brief is available here.

Seattle Jobs

Kent Kammerer mentioned our 2009 brief “Seattle’s Lost Decade” Monday in Crosscut (“Why businesses worry about Seattle’s policies”). The brief is available here. Here is an update of Chart 2 from the brief, extended through March 2009, the most recent date for which employment in Seattle is available. The data come from the Puget Sound […]

Two More New Briefs

We have posted briefs on Initiatives 1082 and 1107. “Initiative 1107: A Response to Last Minute Tax Increases” in available here, while “Initiative 1082: A Choice for Industrial Insurance” is available here.

Two New Briefs

Today we have posted two new briefs. The first, Now is Not the Time To Raise Seattle Taxes, is available here. The second, I-1098 Income Tax Proposal: Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription (Second Edition), updates our June 8 brief on Initiative 1098 and is available here.

R-52 and I-1053

The Research Council has pubished briefs on Referendum 52 and Initiative 1053: The first, Referendum 52: $505 Million to Fund Energy Savings at Universities, Colleges and Public Schools, is available here. The second, Initiative 1053: Requiring a Two-Thirds Majority to Increase Taxes, is available here.

Two charts on Seattle's finances

Here are two charts to give some perspective as Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn releases his budget proposals for 2011 and 2012. In “the worst economy since the Great Depression,” the City of Seattle’s revenue collections have held up relatively well. The first chart compares, for fiscal years 2000 to 2010, revenue growth experienced by Seattle’s […]

What Share of Businesses Would See Their B&O Tax Eliminated by I-1098?

In its impact statement for Initiative 1098, the Office of Financial Management estimates that the initiative’s expansion of the small business credit would eliminate the business and occupation tax obligation for 118,000 Washington businesses. What fraction of Washington businesses would this represent? There is a lot of confusion as to the answer to this question. […]