April 20 , 2015 - Emily Makings
An income tax for education?
Last week state Superintendent Randy Dorn released a $2.2 billion education spending proposal. Today state Treasurer Jim McIntire proposed a way to pay for that new spending. His proposal would: Eliminate the state property tax, lower regular property tax limits, and limit excess local school levies; Set the B&O rate at 1.0 percent for business […]
April 20 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
New policy brief: Levy Swap: Tax Increases, Tax Reductions, Unanswered Questions
We have posted a new policy brief titled: Levy Swap: Tax Increases, Tax Reductions, Unanswered Questions Briefly Levy swap: court-required state funding to replace local dollars to finance basic k-12 education. A state property tax increase to fund a levy swap is proposed by Sen. Dammeier, Rep. Hunter. A uniform statewide property tax hike to […]
April 17 , 2015 - Emily Makings
April 16 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
“Levy swap” proposals surface
The Seattle Times has a story about three legislative proposals to reduce reliance on local school property tax levies that emerged on Wednesday: State lawmakers Wednesday put forth three competing proposals to address part of a court mandate for K-12 education that would reduce schools’ reliance on local tax levies. … The three tax-levy proposals […]
April 16 , 2015 - Emily Makings
April 14 , 2015 - Emily Makings
The impact of higher cigarette taxes
Jan Teague of the Washington Retail Association had an op-ed in the Everett Herald yesterday on the implications of increasing the state cigarette tax. (Gov. Inslee included an increase in his budget proposal.) Teague writes about the impact on retailers: Cigarettes are also the top revenue generator for many small businesses, accounting for nearly 32 […]
April 10 , 2015 - Emily Makings
Carbon taxation in the offing?
Apparently some form of carbon taxation could still happen this year, despite the fact that it did not make it into either House or Senate budget proposal. It was a main source of revenue in Gov. Inslee’s proposed budget, but the House proposal would increase revenues in different ways. From Crosscut: House Environment Committee chair […]
April 08 , 2015 - Emily Makings
March 23 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
New special report: Carbon Taxation
We have posted a new special report on Gov. Inslee's cap and trade proposal (SHB 1314) and Carbon Washington's carbon tax initiative. The brief can be downloaded through this link.