Transparency and dynamic scoring
In the latest episode of Policy Today, Lew and Kriss talk about the new requirement that the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation use dynamic scoring for certain bills. The Tax Foundation notes that the new director of CBO, Keith Hall, has testified that CBO will be transparent in its efforts at […]
May 20 , 2015 - Emily Makings
Revenue forecast de-escalates calls for new taxes
After Monday’s helpful revenue forecast, a resolution of the operating budget impasse may be in sight. Austin Jenkins reports, One day after the state got a favorable revenue forecast, Washington Governor Jay Inslee said he no longer believes the $1.4 billion tax package he proposed in December is necessary. . . . But Inslee said […]
May 14 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
Rep. Springer offers cap and trade proposal
The House Appropriations Committee held a hearing today on a carbon tax bill proposed by Representative Larry Springer. This cap and trade bill would be a substitute to SHB 1314, which was passed out by the House Committee on Environment on February 12. We described the latter bill in our special report Carbon Taxation. Compared […]
May 14 , 2015 - Emily Makings
Sundry links: capital gains tax, data centers, and tourism
Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation writes about proposals to tax capital gains here in Washington, and links to our report on Gov. Inslee’s proposal. TechFlash reports that CenturyLink has decided to locate a new data center in Grant County. We wrote about the economic impact of data centers on central Washington in 2013. Further […]
May 12 , 2015 - Lew Moore
New Debate Over Aerospace Tax Incentive Deal
The debate has exploded once again over the failed bill which would have added new employment level requirements to the 2013 aerospace tax incentive agreement. Last week the venue was the Seattle Times editorial pages. First up, labor advocates Jon Holden and Ryan Rule, who lament a 3.5 percent decrease in Boeing jobs since 2013, […]
April 22 , 2015 - Emily Makings
April 22 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
Pew report: volatile capital gains contribute to declining accuracy of state revenue forecasts
The Washington Post’s GovBeat blog highlights a report out of the Pew Charitable Trusts on the declining accuracy of state revenue forecasts: For the past 27 years, states have gotten worse and worse at forecasting revenue, according to a recent report. But don’t blame the forecasters, the authors say. Errors became larger from 1987 to […]
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