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Tag: state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council

WA revenue forecast plunges another $1.4 billion

WA revenue forecast plunges another $1.4 billion

Economic recovery seems “like a mirage in the desert” and Washington’s economic forecast has been chopped by another $1.4 billion. Will there be a special session of the Legislature? The grim news came at a meeting at the Capitol of the bipartisan Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.  House budget chief Ross Hunter said lawmakers now face the the prospect of slicing perhaps $2 billion out of a $30 billion budget that has been repeatedly “scrubbed” during the Great Recession. State…

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Chief economist sees bleak news on horizon

Chief economist sees bleak news on horizon

Washington’s chief economist, Arun Raha, had hoped we’d be pulling out of our economic doldrums by now, but he says tax collections are sliding backward and he has a “sinking feeling of pessimism” about a possible new recession. In a grim economic and revenue update released Thursday, Raha said the national outlook has “weakened significantly” in the weeks since his June forecast.  He said that forecast assumed improvement would begin in July and then accelerate. But in Washington state, taxes…

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Report: WA recession over, recovery `tepid at best’

Report: WA recession over, recovery `tepid at best’

Washington’s economy is officially out of recession  — and state revenue is even growing a tiny bit. But the recovery, mirroring the national scene, is “painfully slow” and “tepid at best,” said a new Columbus Day report released by the state Economic and Revenue Foecast Council. The state’s chief economist, Arun Raha, announced that tax collections for the past month have grown $2.5 million above the September forecast.  In a two-year budget of $30 billion, that’s peanuts, of course, but…

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Tightening the belt: Gregoire orders spending cuts

Tightening the belt: Gregoire orders spending cuts

Governor Gregoire has just inked an executive order requiring most agencies and programs of Washington state government to trim their sails some more.  The actual percentage — in the 4-to-7-percent range — will be filled in by the state budget office after the new revenue forecast is released on Thursday morning. The cuts, which take effect Oct. 1, will apply to all programs without a constitutional protection, such as basic aid-to-education, bond debt service and pensions, or federal entitlements.  A…

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