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WA business taxes are 5.5 percent of private GSP; 14th highest in nation

The Council on State Taxation today released its new report on state and local business taxes. We watch for the annual updates of this comprehensive report, conducted for COST by Ernst and Young. While there’s a lot of good information in the report, we turn to Table 4, which reports state and local business taxes […]

Governors, economists tally the costs of Medicaid expansion under ACA

The New York Times reports today that the nation’s governors, meeting in Williamsburg, VA, are taking a cautious approach to the Medicaid expansion baked into the Affordable Care Act, but rendered voluntary by the U.S. Supreme Court. The initial reaction to the court’s ruling split along party lines. More than half a dozen Republican governors […]

New business climate ranking out: CNBC places Washington No. 21

Washington finishes the “best business climate” race in 21st place, according to a new report by CNBC. Texas comes in first, followed by Utah and Virginia. The full rankings are here. Our state does relatively well on the CNBC metrics for access to capital (3) and technology and innovation (5). We do not do so […]

WWU collective bargaining agreement and 16 percent tuition hike

Gov. Gregoire recently wrote Western Washington University president Bruce Shephard expressing grave concern with the school’s faculty collective bargaining agreement. Here’s the Seattle Times’ summary and context: …the governor criticized the university’s decision to raise salaries 5.25 percent this school year and 4.25 percent each of the following two years in addition to boosting department-chair […]

Monthly state revenue collections beat forecast by $66.5 million

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s monthly Economic & Revenue Update is out today, and the results were quite good for a change. For the June 11 to July 10 month, general fund–state revenue collections were $66.5 million greater than the forecast, which was revised just 3 weeks ago. The economic outlook remains clouded, however, […]

Merle Hazard's take on the fiscal cliff…

Here’s a much more accessible take on the fiscal cliff, the topic of this post earlier today. h/t Calculated Risk.

The "fiscal cliff" threatens state budgets

In my column today I look at threats to the September revenue forecast, with a particular focus on the fiscal cliff. As we noted in our earlier post, the forecast council acknowledges a 40 percent probability that state revenues will come in substantially below the baseline projection (that’s the pessimistic forecast). The usual risks are […]

New Brief: Characteristics of a Healthy Business Climate

In a new policy brief, we look at how Washington fares in nine recent business climate rankings. The rankings come from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, the Beacon Hill Institute, Chief Executive magazine, Site Selection magazine, Forbes, CNBC, Thumbtack.com, and Development Counsellors, Inc. Criteria and emphasis differ among the […]

New Brief: Implementing Washington's Health Benefit Exchange

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (federal health care reform) is a hot topic these days, as the Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on the constitutionality of the law soon. One part of the federal legislation is a requirement that states establish health benefit exchanges through which individuals and small businesses […]

Official June revenue forecast little changed, risk factors remain high

The economic and revenue forecast council is meeting now to receive the official revenue forecast from interim director Steve Lerch. Here are the numbers: Changes to the economic forecast, which were slight, have resulted in a $16.1 million reduction to the General Fund-State (GF-S) revenue forecast for the current biennium and $132.9 million for the […]