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Proposed business tax approved by Seattle City Council budget committee; amendments increase the revenue estimate

Yesterday the Select Budget Committee of the Seattle City Council approved the “payroll expense tax” introduced by Councilmember Mosqueda. (I wrote about the original proposal here.) According to the Seattle Times, the full council will vote on the proposal on Monday. The budget committee also approved the spending plan associated with the tax, with amendments. […]

A side-by-side of Seattle business tax proposals

Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda has proposed a new “payroll expense” tax; it has not been officially introduced, but a draft will be discussed in a budget committee meeting today. The proposal is similar to the payroll expense tax introduced by councilmembers Sawant and Morales in April. The table below compares the proposals. Notably, the […]

Looking back at state budgeting in the Great Recession, part 3: New resources

As I noted in the first part of this series, revenues during the Great Recession dropped by $10.259 billion. That figure includes the impacts of legislative changes to revenues. Economic changes to the November 2007 through November 2011 forecasts alone reduced general fund–state revenues by $12.640 billion. The second part of this series outlined how […]

Tax provisions in federal stimulus package include individual rebates and employer payroll tax credits and deferrals

Altogether, the tax provisions in the federal stimulus package, which was passed by Congress today, are estimated by the Joint Committee on Taxation to reduce federal revenues by $605.5 billion through fiscal year 2025. Of that reduction, $292.4 billion is from the bill’s rebate for individuals. The rebate will be $1,200 for singles and $2,400 […]

With construction deemed largely non-essential, there will be a hit to state revenues

When Gov. Inslee ordered Washington residents to stay home beginning March 25, he exempted essential businesses. The Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ) reported that the list of essential businesses left the construction industry unsure as to whether it is included or not. Yesterday, Gov. Inslee clarified: “In general, commercial and residential construction is not authorized.” […]

New brief: Washington’s Business Taxes Exceed National Average

Washington’s tax structure relies heavily on businesses. Before significant new taxes were enacted last year, Washington businesses paid about half of state and local taxes in 2018. That year, Washington ranked 6th highest in business taxes per employee, 18th highest in taxes as a share of business output and 13th highest in the share of […]

Workforce education investment surcharge overhaul moves on to Gov. Inslee

Yesterday the House passed ESSB 6492, the bill that aims to fix administrative and revenue issues with the workforce education investment act. (See our policy brief for more.) The House did not amend the bill that was passed by the Senate Jan. 30. The Legislature was acting under a time crunch because under current law […]

New brief: Preemptively Overhauling the Workforce Education Investment Surcharge

One of the major new taxes adopted last year was the workforce education investment business and occupation (B&O) tax surcharge. Appropriations were also made last year from the new workforce education investment account (WEIA) to fund higher education programs. The Legislature is now working to overhaul the surcharge to address three issues: (1) Administrative and […]

A new payroll tax for King County?

A bill has been introduced in the Legislature that would allow King County to impose a “payroll expense tax” when employees earn $150,000 or more. Under HB 2907, a county with a population of at least 2 million (i.e., King) could impose a payroll expense tax on all compensation paid to employees at a rate […]

WEIA bill side-by-side updated to reflect new fiscal information, amendments

HB 2468 was heard by the House Finance Committee yesterday. The bill is one of three introduced this year to make changes to the workforce education investment surcharges that were enacted last year. Earlier this week I wrote about another of the bills (SB 6492) and provided a side-by-side comparison of the three. HB 2468 […]