Remember that slowdown in state revenues that we were warned about by our state’s chief economist ChangMook Sohn last year? Well guess what? It’s here! Washington’s construction industry continues to expand, but real estate tax collections are $18 million below expected levels. The state Revenue Forecast Council says taxable real estate activity in the past…
Tag: Sohn
Retail Spending Spikes In Washington
Seattle Times writer Melissa Allison seems a bit too excited about today’s report that retail spending in Washington State grew by 10.5% from spring ’05 to spring ’06. Those were the days, back in the spring when the flowers bloomed and the housing market sizzled. Washingtonians had such confidence last spring that they spent with…
Housing Continues To Buoy State Budget
Here’s the latest news on the state revenue front. Housing continues to be the life vest keeping the state budget afloat. The state budget picture got even brighter Wednesday when its chief economist predicted the state would close out its books for the current two-year spending cycle with a surplus of more than $1.8 billion….
State’s Chief Economist Warns Of Slowdown
Despite the fact that wages have basically been stagnant while daily expenses such as gasoline have been, shall we say, upwardly mobile, the state continues to rake in record revenue. Chang Mook Sohn, the state’s chief economist, said today that his outlook for tax collections for the 2007-09 biennium shows ever increasing revenues that lawmakers…
State Revenue Continues To Bubble
Here’s the latest installment of “Government Revenue Bubble,” courtesy of the Tacoma News-Tribune: Washington’s hot economy, still surging with a mighty assist from construction and real estate sales, will boost state income by more than $300 million, forecasters said Thursday. But in the same breath, economists warned of a slowdown, and Gov. Christine Gregoire and…