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Lower Business Costs, Better Education & Transportation = More Jobs

Gov. Inslee’s jobs plan, released last week, again highlights the state’s enduring problem: Too many people looking for work and not finding it. In my column, I lead with this: Nearly 17 percent of the state’s workforce — one in six of us — is either unemployed or underemployed. So much for the recovery. Nationally, […]

New Brief: Leveling the Playing Field with Tax Preferences

Many business tax preferences serve to normalize Washington’s tax structure by reducing distortions, offsetting disincentives, and avoiding pyramiding. This is important from the standpoint of good tax policy, as we outline in a new policy brief. We also discuss the high tech R&D tax credits in particular.

Washington imposes 2nd heaviest cell phone tax

The combined state-local tax on cell phone users in Washington is 18.62 percent. According to a new Tax Foundation study, that’s the second highest rate in the nation. Only Nebraska, at 18.67 percent, is higher. The weighted state-local across the country is 11.36 percent. The feds tack on another 5.82 percent. The Tax Foundation notes, […]

A capital gains tax for Washington? Probably not, but they're discussing it again.

Senate Democratic Leader Ed Murray has proposed a new capital gains tax. Murray is proposing a 5 percent tax on capital gains to start in 2015, which he said would raise between roughly $600 and $700 million per year to help fund basic education and higher education. He proposed something similar last year. Under Murray’s […]

Louisiana and Kansas consider scrapping income taxes to improve business climate

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback have both voiced support for pro-growth tax reform based on eliminating personal income taxes. From NRO: “Eliminating personal income taxes will put more money back into the pockets of Louisiana families,” Jindal said in a statement earlier this month, “and will change a complex tax code […]

Gov. Gregoire proposes new taxes in final budget release

Gov. Chris Gregoire offered her final biennial budget proposal this morning. In addition to required “current revenues” proposal – one that doesn’t rely on new taxes – she presents a plan to make the billion-dollar downpayment on the increased public school funding required by the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. From the governor’s press release: […]

Tax incentives get additional attention after NYT series

Last week we wrote about the NYT series looking at tax incentives. Since then, I’ve come across a number of reports that shed additional light on the issue. Economist Tim Bartik, quoted in the Times stories, points out that the paper flubs the figures on Michigan’s tax breaks. …most public finance economists would argue that […]

Making tax incentives work for economic efficiency

My column this morning cites a recent New York Times series on tax incentives and their effects on state and local government revenues. The three part NYT report is here, here, and here. Without question, there have been some major boondoggles in the subsidy game routinely played as corporations and government officials attempt to land […]

Washington ranks 28th in Tax Foundation new tax burden report

State and local taxes in Washington amount to 9.3 percent of state income, according to a new analysis by the Tax Foundation, ranking the state No. 28 in state-local tax burden. The Tax Foundation estimates for 2010 differ from most governmental reports, in that the Foundation accounts for “tax exporting.” This is most dramatic in […]

Washington ranks 6th in Tax Foundation's index of business tax climates

The Tax Foundation today released its annual study of state business tax climates. As usual, Washington ranks in the top 10 best. We were 6th this year, 7th last year, and 8th the year before. As we wrote last year, regarding the 2012 rankings, the TF methodology favors states without an income tax.   The […]