Last week, a KUOW story claimed that Washington’s tax structure “means Washington taxes are low compared to other states, on average. States that tax people based on income bring in higher revenues.”

This is just not the case. As we showed in a recent report, Washington’s state and local taxes per capita were $5,050 in 2016. This was higher than the national average of $4,946 and Washington ranked 17^th in the nation. Further, Washington’s state and local tax growth from 2015 to 2016 was the highest in the country. (2016 is the most recent data available.)

And the chart below shows the history of Washington’s state revenues, including the forecast for the next few biennia.

Additionally, the KUOW story stated, “Washington ranks as the worst state for low-income earners to live.” The rest of the story makes clear that they are talking about our tax structure, based on a report on state tax systems from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (we have some issues with the report’s methodology, as we outlined in this paper). But that report doesn’t support the blanket statement that Washington is “the worst state for low-income earners to live.” While low-income earners face significant challenges no matter where they live, the analysis ignores the impact of federal and state spending on programs that benefit low-income earners.