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InFocus Podcast: State revenue collections up, Workers' comp costs still highest in nation

Policy Today podcast: Analyzing the latest McCleary order

Last week the state Supreme Court ordered a $100,000-per-day penalty against the state for not producing a plan to reach full K-12 basic education by 2018. Lawmakers have made significant progress, but have a highly complex task ahead of them.

InFocus: Colorado tax limit court case, health exchange funding, Puget Sound manufacturing jobs

InFocus: Employment numbers, I-1366, Legislature's McCleary report (July 21, 2015)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/215936923” params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Today we’re talking about the June state employment report, Initiative 1366 (requiring the legislature to submit for voter approval a constitutional amendment requiring 2/3 legislative approval of tax increases), and lawmakers’ progress report to the state Supreme Court on the McCleary K-12 funding case. In this episode: June employment […]

WRC Annual Dinner: Dr. Rick Evans on "The Mind of Pete Carroll"

You can now watch the featured speaker at our May 28 annual dinner in Seattle on TVW. It’s BYU economics professor Dr. Rick Evans speaking on “The Mind of Pete Carroll: Tax Policy, Inequality, and State Competitiveness.”

90 Seconds with the WRC: It's a Wrap!

InFocus: Bump in state revenue collections, HS biology test controversy explained

Washington #5 in state/local sales tax

The Tax Foundation is out with its midyear report on sales tax rates, and Washington ranks fifth in the nation for our combined state and average local sales tax rate of 8.90%. Ahead of us are #1-ranked Tennessee at 9.46%, #2 Arkansas at 9.27%, #3 Louisiana at 9.01% and #4 Alabama at 8.93%. For more information, see the […]

Links: Tax changes and employment policy

The Department of Revenue has a list of the tax changes that went into effect July 1 (the first day of fiscal year 2016). Those tax changes include the extension of sales and use tax exemptions for data centers. Data centers have a significant economic impact on communities in eastern Washington, and the exemptions matter […]

Washington's #1!

…in spirits taxes, that is. The Tax Foundation today issued its much-awaited ranking of state distilled spirits excise taxes. Washington easily leads the pack with a rate of $35.22 per gallon (Oregon’s a distant second at $22.72 per gallon). Read more here.