Tax bill passes House
Yesterday the House passed the Houses finance committee’s tax bill (ESHB 2038) with one amendment, which concerned section 401. (My previous posts on this bill are here and here.) As it passed the House finance committee, section 401 of the bill eliminated the sales tax exemption for goods (other than motor vehicles, boats and trailer […]
April 25 , 2013 - Emily Makings
Divergence in non-education spending in House and Senate budgets
In the 2013-15 operating budgets, both the House and the Senate increase spending over 2011–13. The Senate increases near general fund-state plus opportunity pathways (NGFS+) spending by 6.72 percent, and the House increases NGFS+ spending by 10.44 percent. In the Senate budget, spending on the department of early learning (which includes pre-school and is part […]
April 24 , 2013 - Richard S. Davis
A reminder: Washington leads the nation in liquor taxes
Beer drinkers may have caught a break when the House Finance Committee nixed higher beer taxes, but liquor drinkers get no such love. Here’s the Tax Foundation’s map of liquor excise taxes. Note Washington and Oregon come in #1 and #2. And then note the spread.
April 24 , 2013 - Richard S. Davis
New study finds Seattle has nation's 8th worst traffic congestion
Emily wrote earlier today about the House Transportation Committee’s work on a new funding plan. Also today the Puget Sound Business Journal reported on a new study confirming commuter perceptions. Seattle’s traffic problems are the eighth-worst in the country, according to a new study by Kirkland-based traffic data company Inrix. According to the sixth Inrix […]
April 24 , 2013 - Richard S. Davis
Moving closer to internet sales tax — won't cure state budget woes
The U.S. Senate today took another step toward passing the Marketplace Fairness Act. The Hill reports, In a 75-22 vote, the Senate proceeded to The Marketplace Fairness Act, S. 743, which would empower states to collect taxes on purchases made online by consumers in their states. The latest vote suggests supporters of the bill are […]
April 24 , 2013 - Kriss Sjoblom
House finance committee passes tax increases
Yesterday morning the House finance committee passed a substitute version of committee chair Reuven Carlyle’s tax proposal, which we described in a this policy brief. The substitute bill (SHB 2038) eliminated increases in taxes on beer, insurance agent commissions, stevedoring and janitorial services that would have been imposed in the original bill. The removed tax […]
April 24 , 2013 - Emily Makings
Revised Connecting Washington transportation package moves forward, including gas tax increase
Earlier this year, Rep. Clibborn introduced a 10-year, $10 billion transportation package called Connecting Washington. (I wrote about the details of that proposal here.) Since then, less expansive transportation budgets have been passed by the House and Senate. Last week, Clibborn introduced a revised version of her plan, which would spend $8.4 billion over 12 […]
April 22 , 2013 - Kriss Sjoblom
New policy brief: House Finance Committee Considers Tax Increases
Our new policy brief on the House finance committee chair’s tax proposal can be downloaded here.
April 22 , 2013 - Emily Makings
Prioritizing education spending
Last week, Brian Rosenthal of the Times wrote a story about the amount of education spending in the budget proposals. He writes, You may have heard that lawmakers are proposing to dramatically increase funding for public schools in response to a state Supreme Court order. You may not have heard that some of them plan […]
April 22 , 2013 - Emily Makings
Transportation regulatory reform: streamlining and expediting
In addition to the “bare-bones” transportation budget bills that were passed in the House and Senate last week, the House passed (by a vote of 93 to 1) a transportation regulatory reform bill (ESHB 1978) “that expedites the delivery of transportation projects through a streamlined approach to environmental decision making.” ESHB 1978 “recognizes the opportunity […]