February 20 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
Washington's forecasted revenue growth is better than that of the average state
A recent post at TaxVox (the blog of the Urban Institute/Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center) examines state government revenue forecasts fore fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017. State forecasters expect revenue growth to remain sluggish through fiscal year (FY) 2016 according to an Urban Institute analysis of agency reports. In FY17, states project revenue growth […]
February 09 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
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.
February 04 , 2015 - Emily Makings
January 29 , 2015 - Emily Makings
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 […]
January 23 , 2015 - Emily Makings
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, […]
January 08 , 2015 - Kriss Sjoblom
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, […]
December 24 , 2014 - Kriss Sjoblom
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 […]
December 23 , 2014 - Kriss Sjoblom
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:
December 19 , 2014 - Richard S. Davis
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 […]