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90 Seconds podcast: Washington ranks high for business tax burden

Highlights from the new education funding proposal

[Update 3:49pm — Legislative language has now been released — see here.] As Mary noted yesterday, the Senate Majority Coalition has released its education funding plan. This comes after the Republicans on the Education Funding Task Force offered only “guiding principles,” and the EFTF could not agree on recommendations to the Legislature. (For background on all of […]

New Policy Brief: Washington State Businesses Pay 58 Percent of State and Local Taxes

We're out with a new policy brief on business taxation, "Washington State Businesses Pay 58 Percent of State and Local Taxes." It gives an overview of how and how much Washington businesses are taxed, and compares us to the rest of the country. Here are some highlights: The percentage of Washington’s private sector gross state […]

Gov. Inslee’s education proposal would increase spending by $3.9 billion and add $4.4 billion in new taxes

Today Gov. Inslee released his proposal to increase education spending in the 2017–19 biennial budget. Some of this proposed spending is related to the McCleary decision. According to the governor’s policy brief, the proposal “includes the final steps of addressing teacher compensation and ending the decades-long overreliance on local levies for basic education.” It throws […]

New Policy Brief on I-732: Imposing a New Carbon Tax in Washington State

We've put together a Policy Brief – which you can read in full here – on I-732, the statewide initiative on the November ballot that would create a new carbon tax in Washington. In brief: Initiative 732 would impose a tax on carbon dioxide emissions and at the same time lower other taxes.  The carbon tax would […]

Tax Foundation dings gross receipts tax

Washington's Business and Occupation (B&O) tax stands out as one of the few gross receipts taxes (GRTs) still around in America. Last week the Tax Foundation wrote critically of GRTs, noting that Though gross receipts taxes are business taxes and as such are sometimes viewed as progressive, in reality, they have potential to be more regressive […]

Aerospace tax incentives could help lure startup to Seattle

The Puget Sound Business Journal reported earlier this week on some new business that may be coming Washington state's way: Spike Aerospace, a Boston startup developing an ambitious new supersonic business jet, is talking with Washington state officials and aerospace suppliers about possibly locating its new manufacturing plant in Seattle. The company's CEO, Vik Kachoria, […]

Previewing tomorrow's McCleary hearing

Tomorrow the state Supreme Court will hear arguments in the McCleary case, after which it will decide whether to continue sanctions on the Legislature. The News Tribune has a preview of what could happen. The attorney general has argued that the Court should lift contempt and cancel sanctions. Superintendent Randy Dorn thinks the Court should […]

The property tax has a long history (and plays a key role the McCleary case)

In Washington, schools are funded mainly by the property tax (levied at the state and local level). In the McCleary case on school funding, the state Supreme Court said that local levies are not dependable and regular enough to be used for basic education.  So I thought the Atlantic's quick post on the history of the […]

How to fund Seattle's Office of Labor Standards?

For the last several months a discussion has been ongoing in Seattle about how to increase funding for the Office of Labor Standards (OLS). The OLS was established in 2015 to enforce standards related to city ordinances like the minimum wage and paid sick leave. An April 1 staff memo to the Seattle City Council’s […]