The Washington Research Council has a new post on today’s economic and revenue update from the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. The key takeaway: state revenues continue to outpace expectations, though not by much. Still, good news for the recently adopted state budget.
From the ERFC:
Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the June 11 – July 10, 2015 collection period came in $20.6 million (1.5%) above the June forecast. During the collection period, there were $7.3 million in net large refunds that were not included in the forecast (the net of all large payments and refunds). Without these refunds, collections would have been $27.9 million (2.0%) higher than forecasted.
Cumulatively, collections are now $17.4 million (0.5%) higher than forecasted. Without the abovementioned refunds, collections would have been $24.7 million (0.7%) higher than forecasted.
Revenue Act (sales and use, B&O, tobacco and utility taxes) were slightly below forecast.
Revenue Act collections for the current period came in $4.5 million (0.4%) below the June forecast. During the period, however, large payments and refunds that were not included in the forecast summed to a net refund of $7.3 million. If the net refund had not occurred, collections would have been $2.8 million (0.3%) higher than forecasted.
The state economy continues to grow. A surprise in the report:
In June the Bureau of Economic Analysis released new estimates of state personal income through the first quarter of 2015. Washington personal income grew at a 3.2% rate (SAAR) in the first quarter which ranked 34th among the states (including the District of Columbia) and was below the 3.8% annual rate for the U.S. as a whole.
So while the news is generally good, there’s plenty of room for improvement here. Our roadmap identifies policies that will support economic growth and shared prosperity statewide.
