Blog

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 […]

Side-by-side of three bills that would change the workforce education investment surcharges

Three bills have been introduced that would overhaul the workforce education investment surcharges. The workforce education investment business and occupation (B&O) tax surcharges were adopted last year to supplement funding for higher education. (See this brief for more information.) Revenues to the new workforce education investment account (WEIA) are expected to be $380.0 million in […]

What are the prospects for city and state tax increases in 2020?

Gov. Inslee did not propose general tax increases in his 2020 supplemental budget proposal, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be proposed by others. In the Seattle Times, Daniel Beekman and Benjamin Romano report that ideas for business taxes are circulating in Seattle: From Councilmember Sawant: “another head tax based on employee hours or a […]

Several tax- and budget-related bills have already been prefiled in the Legislature

In addition to Sen. Braun’s proposal to dedicate state sales tax revenues from the sale of motor vehicles to transportation, several other bills affecting taxes and the budget process have been prefiled in the Legislature to date. SB 6031 (Sen. Fortunato) and the identical HB 2227 (Reps. Young and Walsh) would enact Initiative 976, which […]

New and repurposed taxes proposed for wildfire costs and transportation funding

Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz has proposed an insurance premium surcharge to help fund wildfire response. The draft legislation would require property and casualty insurers (except medical professional liability businesses) to collect a “wildfire surcharge” of $5 per policy annually. Each property and casualty insurer would have to make a payment of at least […]