Blog

Why it's a mistake to increase capital gains taxes

In an earlier column, I pointed out that several problems with proposals to tax capital gains in our state. With key legislators, including the Senate Ways and Means chair, still promoting the idea, I wanted to call attention to a recent blog post from the American Enterprise Institute. Some very effective debunking of prevalent myths. […]

Cities continue to block B&O tax simplification backed by business, governor

For years, business groups have sought a way to simplify the state’s myriad municipal business and occupation tax regimens. AWB president Don Brunell devoted his column this week to the issue, indicating support for Gov. Gregoire’s tax simplification proposal. B&O taxes are assessed on a business’ gross income, regardless of profit. The state imposes a […]

New Brief: Nation's Seventh-Best Business Climate?

Last week, the Tax Foundation released its annual ranking of state business tax climates.  Washington–largely thanks to our lack of an income tax–ranks seventh in the nation.  In a policy brief, we discuss the ranking and what it means for Washington.  This brief builds on a post from Dick last week.

U.S. Chamber gives WA poor marks for employment laws and regulations

At Olympia Business Watch, AWB president Don Brunell writes that the latest review of state employment laws and regulations by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce again places Washington in the “poor” category, along with 14 other states. The Chamber’s study assigns each state one of three grades: Good, Fair, Poor. As Brunell points out, there […]

Union membership rate stayed flat in 2011

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the 2011 union members report Friday. In 2011, the union membership rate–the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union–was 11.8 percent, essentially unchanged from 11.9 percent in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging […]

Tax Foundation: WA has nation's 7th best business tax climate. There's more.

The Tax Foundation, a respected national tax policy research group, released its annual report ranking the business tax climate in the 50 states. As it has in the past, the group gives Washington generally high marks. This year, the state comes in No. 7, up one from last year’s 8th place ranking.   Here’s the […]

Moving ahead with education reform despite state budget challenges

Last Friday, I noted that education reform dominated the first week of the legislative session. A good op-ed by Dean Allen, CEO of McKinstry Co. and current chair of the Washington Roundtable, explains the urgency. By 2018, two out of three family-wage jobs in our state will require post-secondary education or training. Yet, on average, […]

Tax simplification supported by governor and business community, some major cities opposed

AWB president Don Brunell blogged recently about the advantages to businesses of the B&O tax simplification measure endorsed by Gov. Chris Gregoire. Brunell writes: AWB has pointed out the B&O tax is different than the sales tax because at least 39 cities collect B&O taxes independently using their own rules, penalties and fees. B&O taxes […]

Education reforms top first week of legislative session

The first week of the 2012 legislature draws to a close this cool Friday the 13th of January. Encouragingly, education reform has found substantial bipartisan support. In the Seattle Times, Brian Rosenthal has a good overview of yesterday’s action. Declaring that traditional methods have failed, a bipartisan group of lawmakers formally introduced a pair of […]

Puget Sound region among "top 5 regions" to watch for economic growth

Joel Kotkin has a good Forbes piece on the nation’s economy. Pointing out that the national economy is made up of many economies, he highlights “the five regions…poised to flourish…” Read the article for the assumptions and his analysis. The good news here is that the Pacific Northwest makes the cut. More especially, the Puget […]