Taxes: The grass is always greener…
With the first meeting today of Gov. Inslee’s legislative McCleary workgroup, we’re likely to see another round of calls for new taxes – specifically, an income tax and/or a capital gains tax – to fund the rest of the state’s K-12 obligations. Arguments in favor of new forms of taxation include: Washington’s tax system is unfair and regressive, […]
September 16 , 2015 - Mary Strow
September 14 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
Most of the good news in today's update to the state revenue forecast is old news
The state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council held its quarterly meeting today. The forecast of general fund–state (GF–S) revenue for the current biennium (2015–17) increased to $37,091.0 million from the $36,758.1 million that had been forecasted in May. However, the $332.9 million gain is more than accounted for by above-forecast collections reported in July, August […]
September 14 , 2015 - Emily Makings
Evaluating a governor by his budgets
At FiveThirtyEight, Ben Casselman writes about How To Evaluate The Economic Records Of Governors Who Want To Be President. His main points: Look beyond their term of office. Consider the national picture. Ignore balanced-budget claims. Follow the money. Number three is the interesting one to me. Casselman writes, Governors love to brag about how they […]
September 11 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
August 11 to September 10 state revenue collections were $38.9 million greater than forecasted
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued its monthly Economic and Revenue Update this afternoon. Here are the key bullets on revenue from the summary: Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the August 11 – September 10, 2015 collection period came in $38.9 million (3.0%) above the June forecast. Cumulatively, collections in the four months […]
September 10 , 2015 - Emily Makings
New brief: I-1366: A Choose Your Own Tax Adventure for Legislators
In a new policy brief, we take a look at Initiative 1366, which will be on the ballot this fall. Briefly, I-1366 would reduce the state sales tax from 6.5 percent to 5.5 percent unless the Legislature refers a constitutional amendment to voters for approval. The constitutional amendment would require two-thirds legislative approval to increase […]
August 19 , 2015 - Mary Strow
August 18 , 2015 - Mary Strow
90 Seconds Podcast: The McCleary series
We're starting a series of 90 Seconds podcasts specifically on the McCleary ruling (in 2012 the state Supreme Court ruled that the State of Washington is unconstitutionally failing to fully fund K-12 basic education; that decision and all subsequent McCleary filings and rulings are here). Given the importance of McCleary, and the amount of time […]
August 18 , 2015 - Mary Strow
Policy Today podcast: Analyzing the latest McCleary order
Last week the state Supreme Court ordered a $100,000-per-day penalty against the state for not producing a plan to reach full K-12 basic education by 2018. Lawmakers have made significant progress, but have a highly complex task ahead of them.
August 14 , 2015 - Mary Strow
McCleary roundup
Big day yesterday with the state Supreme Court “impos[ing] a $100,000 per day penalty on the State” for not producing a plan to achieve, by 2018, full state funding of basic education (as laid out in Article IX, Section 1 of Washington’s constitution – the famous “paramount duty” provision). The court ordered the amount of the […]