Category Archives: Tax Policy

Town Hall Wrap

  Another town hall meeting. I should go back on the calendar and count how many we’ve done. These have been fun over the years and we keep fiddling with the formula. This time we had a full room so … Continue reading

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Legislative “Progress” – Early March

Each Legislative session has a rythym all its own. This one is waiting expectantly for something to happen. I think you’ll see a flurry of activity towards the end of the month as budgets start to get released. At the … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Education, Health Care, Social Justice, Tax Policy, Transportation | Tagged | 1 Comment

Standardized Tax Rates for all Marijuana

Rep. Reuven Carlyle and I introduced legislation today to standardize state tax rates across medical and non-medical marijuana. The medical market would now look like the setup initiative 502 put in place for recreational use. The press release we issued … Continue reading

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Who built that?

The New York Times ran a great article in the business section this week talking about the relationship between business and government. It’s a little historical perspective, including a plug for a great book I read this summer “Why Nations … Continue reading

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4-year budget outlook released

The Office of Financial Management (OFM – the gov’s budget office) just released their 4-year budget outlook. This will be the basis for our new 4-year balanced budget requirement. You can see the spreadsheet here. It shows a “shortfall” of … Continue reading

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Boring post about Joint Education Financing Task Force

For those who are interested the state is maintaining a website with information about the meetings the task force is holding. You can sign up at this website for notifications of meetings, perhaps the most interesting part of what is, … Continue reading

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Tax Incidence in Washington

There were a number of questions asked in today’s K-12 Finance Task Force meeting about how taxpayers in different income strata experience Washington’s tax system. I’m providing some links to interesting data while we wait for more up-to-date information from … Continue reading

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School Funding Task Force Work Plan

At the school funding task force meeting this morning we discussed and adopted the a work plan for the exercise. The document describing this work plan is available here: Initial Plan for K-12 funding policy development . Below is the intro … Continue reading

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Fiscal Cliff and the Washington Budget

Richard Davis of the Washington Research Council posted today about the risks facing the Washington State budget. I don’t always agree with Dick, but he usually has something to say worth listening to. I do agree with him this time, … Continue reading

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End of Session Budget Update

Thank you for allowing me to represent you in the Washington State Legislature. It’s an honor and a privilege. This year was pretty “special.” There’s nothing like a little drama to spice up a legislator’s life. This session had it … Continue reading

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