Blog

Most western states don't tax by-product fuel

A bill before the state house of representatives (HB 2038) would require petroleum refiners to pay use tax on fuels they use that are by-products of the refining process. Bill supporters claim that Washington is unusual in not taxing such fuels. This is not true. These fuels would be untaxed in 8 of the other […]

Six southern cities in top 10 fastest growing metros – Seattle is No. 15

At his Urbanophile blog, Aaron M. Renn looks at the fastest/slowest growing metros in 2012. The top five are Nashville, Houston, Austin, Salt Lake City, and San Jose (proving that people still know the way). Silicon Valley continues to attract, despite California’s notoriously bleak economic climate. The other cities are in states generally considered business […]

The R&D tax credit and the budget

In the Washington Technology Industry Association blog, Lewis McMurran writes about the Senate budget and the very-soon-to-be-released House budget. On the House budget, he says, It will likely look more like the Governor’s than the Senate’s.  We can anticipate at least $1 billion in new taxes or reducing tax incentives. We fully expect there will […]

Courting California: UT & VA Governors Want to Win Jobs from Golden State

California’s troubled business climate has become a punchline. Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Rick Perry ran radio ads in California urging businesses to check out Texas. Chief Executive magazine ranks California the worst state for business. The California Business Roundtable finds a majority of business leaders think it’s harder to do business in California than […]

Incentives (Still) Matter

News today that Boeing will be investing $1 billion and creating 2,000 jobs in South Carolina over the next eight years underscores the aggressive competition among the states. And, it shows that incentives continue to play a role in corporate investment decisions. Communities and states that understand that simple fact stand to gain. While we […]

Oil companies top the list of taxation heroes

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Merril Matthews debunks the enduring myth of the undertaxed oil company. …those special tax breaks just for the oil and gas industry don’t exist. <snip> Ironically, USA Today just published the top-10 list of companies that paid the highest U.S. income taxes as of 2012, and oil industry companies took […]

Washington's Tax Freedom Day arrives April 20, ranking us 9th highest nationally

The Tax Foundation today released its annual Tax Freedom Day report. Tax Freedom Day is the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year… In 2013, Americans will pay $2.76 trillion in federal taxes and $1.45 trillion in state taxes, for a total […]

Business leaders concerned that Inslee's tax hikes will hamper growth

Since Gov. Jay Inslee announced a budget that raised taxes $1.2 billion over the next biennium, business groups have argued that many of the proposed hikes will depress economic activity. AWB president Don Brunell identified the clear immediate consequence. Families and employers pay the government more money. Washington Retail Association president Jan Teague has an […]

Taxing beer and marijuana

As part of its fiscal impact statement for I-502, the Office of Financial Management estimated that excise taxes and license fees on legalized marijuana would increase state revenues by $434.2 million in FY 2015, $447.2 million in FY 2016, and $460.6 million in FY 2017. Now, as reported by the Seattle Times, Washington’s new marijuana […]

Seattle's job growth comes despite the city's business climate

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat calls Seattle’s recent employment boom an “inconvenient truth” undercutting claims that the city’s “taxes and rules and supposedly socialist groupthink” are bad for business. There’s no denying the growth in metro Seattle, but a good case can be made that it’s occuring despite the city’s  business climate, not because of […]