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Tax exemptions as economic stimulus…

Strange headline over this story in Stateline.org: Despite red ink, some governors push big tax cuts for businesses. A less skeptical editor might have written, “because of red ink, some governors use tax policy to stimulate investment and job creation.” Because, well, that’s what the story is about. Governors from New York to Florida, Idaho […]

February Economic and Revenue Update

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council's February Economic and Revenue Update was released today. The key number is $44.8 million. This is the cumulative shortfall in collections over the three months since the November update to the general fund revenue forecast. Today's report increases the likelihood that the next revision to the revenue forecast, which […]

Governor scheduled to sign UI bills this afternoon

A week of anticipation culminated in a welcome compromise on unemployment insurance legislation. The state Senate this morning concurred with the House, passing EHB 1091 (41 yea, 4 nay, 3 excused). The Wednesday, the House passed the measure, which provides permanent unemployment insurance tax relief to a reported 90 percent of employers and temporary extension […]

President's UI tax plan far from a done deal…kind of like the governor's better idea

Yesterday Emily wrote about President Obama’s plan to allow states to raise their unemployment insurance taxes and provide some temporary debt relief to states that have borrowed from the feds. Today that plan appears to be in a little trouble. The Wall Street Journal reports that Capitol Hill Republicans oppose the proposal, though states that […]

Is Manufacturing Back?

John Talton had a column titled “Manufacturing Is Back, But It Isn’t Pretty” in the Sunday Seattle Times. He sure got the “it isn’t pretty” part right. Here are three charts to give some perspective on how manufacturing has fared in and after the Great Recession:

Union Membership in Washington State, 2010

In January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership, which shows that Washington remains the 4th most highly unionized state in the nation. In 2010, 19.4 percent of Washington workers were members of a union. This is down from the 20.2 percent reported for 2009. Nationally, 11.9 percent of workers […]

Washington drops from 5th to 6th in Milken Science and Technology Index

The Milken Institute today released its 2010 State Science and Technology Index. Washington fell to 6th from the 5th place it held in the 2008 Milken rankings, while Utah moved up to 5th from 8th. Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado and California retained the top four spots. The report notes: Washington slipped to sixth overall this year […]

S&P/Case-Shiller Indices Show Seattle-Area House Prices Continue to Decline

Standard and Poor’s today released the S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Indices for November. S&P’s Davd Blitzer noted:  “With these numbers more analysts will be calling for a double-dip in home prices.” As the chart below shows, Seattle’s first dip has yet to hit bottom. The November value of the seasonally adjusted index for Seattle is 140.77, […]

January Collections Report

The Office of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council today released the January Economic and Revenue Update. The “headline” numbers show collections for the most recent month to be $36.9 million (3.4 percent) greater than anticipated under the November revenue forecast. Cumulatively, for the two months since the November forecast, revenues are $61.0 million (2.3 […]

December Revenue Collections Report

The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council’s monthly Economic and Revenue Update came out today. Revenue for the November 11 to December 10 collection period was $1,593.4 million, $24.1 greater than had been forecast. However, $20.9 million of the $24.1 million positive variance was due to one-time items such as audit payments and unclaimed property transfers […]