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New policy brief: Gov. Inslee's Capital Gains Tax Proposal

Our new brief on Governor Inslee’s Capital Gains Tax Proposal is available through this link.

Podcast: Capital Gains Tax

President drops 529 tax proposal; GET program dodges a bullet

This week President Obama decided to drop his State of the Union proposal to tax earnings from 529 plans. These plans are a tax advantaged way to save for college — distributions from the accounts are not taxed when used for educational purposes. (Washington’s GET program is one of them; we wrote about the program […]

States looking for money in e-cigarettes

Stateline has an article today about e-cigarette taxes: With the popularity of e-cigarettes growing, more states are more likely to look to the new devices for revenue. . . . “This is going to be one of the most introduced and debated topics in state legislatures this year, especially the tax issue,” said Max Behlke, […]

Pew finds that state tax revenue in Washington is less volatile than in the majority of other states

The Pew Charitable Trusts have posted an analysis comparing the volatility of the tax systems of the fifty states. The index Pew uses for volatility is the standard deviation of year-over-year percent change of each state’s total tax revenue from 1994 to 2013, adjusted for all known tax changes. Alaska has the highest volatility score, […]

Boston Fed paper on the increasing volatility of state taxes on capital gains

Governor Inslee has proposed that the state institute a 7 percent tax on capital gains. The first $25,000 of gains for an individual ($50,000 for a couple) would be exempt, as would all gains on a principle residence that had been owned for 20 years or longer.  (For a few more details on the proposal […]

The Department of Revenue has posted its annual Revenue Alternatives list

Before each legislative session, the state Department of Revenue produces a list showing the state revenue impact of various possible tax rate increases. Here is the new version, based on the November 2014 revenue forecast:

Governor's proposed capital gains tax: Considering possible negative consequences

As Kriss wrote yesterday, the governor’s budget includes a new capital gains tax  (link to detail on governor’s web page is currently down). The essence: The Governor proposes a new capital gains tax on the sale of stocks, bonds and other assets to increase the share of state taxes paid by our state’s wealthiest taxpayers. The […]

Governor proposes $2.3 billion education package, doesn't fund I-1351 class size reduction

Gov. Jay Inslee launched his extended budget rollout by focusing on education. This is, of course, the fun part of the rollout, talking about what the new spending will buy before having to get to the grit of new taxes. It’s, well, let’s just use the governor’s own characterization, Inslee proposes boldest new efforts in […]

State budget must invest wisely in education: Yes to STEM, No to I-1351 Class Size Measure

This week Gov. Jay Inslee rolls out his 2015-2017 budget proposals. Education funding will take center stage, driven by the state Supreme Court’s McCleary mandate and voter-approved (narrowly) class size reduction Initiative 1351. While I-1351, which adds $4.7 billion in new spending over the next four years, is clearly unaffordable, lawmakers are expected to add […]