Kriss Sjoblom

Initiative 1033

TVW has video coverage of proponents and opponents debating debating Initiative 1033 before the Seattle Times editorial board. WRC groupies will particularly enjoy the segment running from 30:15 to 33:15.

Seattle Times Editorial

Our Brief Seattle’s Lost Decade was mentioned in an editorial in today’s Seattle Times that urged repeal of the city’s “head tax” on employers.

September Washington State Revenue Forecast

The September forecast reduced combined general fund revenues for the 2007–09 and 2009–11 biennia by $238 million. For the broader near general fund, the reduction was $230 million. Our brief on the forecast is available here.

September Economic and Revenue Update

Last Friday (September 11), the Forecast Council issued this month’s Economic and Revenue Update, reporting collection experience for the August 11 to September 10 period. This is the last key piece of information going into the next update to the state’s general fund revenue forecast. State forecasters believe that the national economy has hit bottom, […]

Initiative 1033

The Research Council’s analysis of Initiative 1033, which will be on the statewide ballot in November, has been posted here. The initiative would establish limits on the annual growth in revenue deposited in state, county and city general funds. Revenues above the limit would be rebated through property tax reductions.

Another Chart on Saving

The previous post discussed the recent upturn in the personal saving rate and the prospects that it will head even higher as the economy emerges from recession. In light of the recent increase in the saving rate, the following chart, which plots personal consumption expenditures as a share of gross domestic product, may seem anomalous. […]

Three Charts on Saving

Consumer spending is unlikely to lead the economy out of the current recession. The first chart in this post shows the personal saving rate—the ratio of personal saving to disposable personal income—from the first quarter of 1952 to the second quarter of this year, as calculated by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis […]

Seattle Taxable Retail Sales

Here is a chart of annual taxable retail sales in the city of Seattle for the years 1994 to 2008. To remove the effects of inflation, we have adjusted spending to 2008 values using the BLS’s Seattle Consumer Price Index. The key things to note are: (1) for 2007, the peak year of the last […]

Seattle's Lost Decade

An editorial in the current issue of the Puget Sound Business Journal promotes our recent Policy Brief, “Seattle’s Lost Decade”: A new report by the Washington Research Council should be required reading for policymakers in Seattle’s City Hall. The full editorial is available through this link to the PSBJ (subscription required).The brief itself is available […]