WA State Tax Revenues Are Up

One of the most important things a state legislature does is set the budget and monitor how closely the government sticks to it. Updates are usually released every quarter. So, everyone can keep an eye on things. This may seem like a boring government thing that doesn’t really affect you, but that’s not the case.

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Here are Five Fast Facts on the state of Washington State’s budget:

1. 📈 Ahead Of Schedule - The latest forecast from the state economist says the state will bring in just shy of $70 billion for the 2-year cycle. That’s almost $200 million more than the last forecast. Sadly, this does not mean refund checks for everyone.

2. 👏 Bringing It In - Taxes from personal income and retail spending are driving the extra revenue, but they’re up less than the last couple of years were. That suggests an overall slow-down of growth in the state’s economy. We’ll still take any amount of up, though!

3. 😥 Falling Short - Real estate taxes and housing permits are down. That’s not good news, especially since there’s already a housing shortage in the state. 

4. 🌱⛽ Not Included - The big item that isn’t included here is the taxes raised by the cap-and-trade program, which has so far raised about $1.6 billion. Whether that’s a good thing or not is still up for debate.

5. 🗳️ Next Steps - Gov. Inslee will submit a new budget in December, and the legislature will go to work on it when they come back in January. It should be finalized by March. Unless politicians start politicking, that is.

🔥Bottom line: So why should you care about this? Well, the state tax revenues are how all the government functions and services get funded. Given that they are actually ahead of where they were supposed to be, this means that no tax increases should be needed – or even proposed – in this next budget. That means less money comes out of your Paychecks! Good news, right? Now, we just need to keep an eye on our elected reps to make sure they behave…

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When was the last time you thought about the state’s budget?  🤔😆

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