Senate Budget Proposal: Revenue Increases Would Account for only 10% of Total Budget Solutions

This morning, members of the Washington State Senate Ways & Means Committee unveiled a supplementary budget proposal for the remainder of the current fiscal biennium.  As a result of the national recession, Washington legislators face budget shortfalls totaling $11.8 billion in the FY2009-11 state budget.  It is essential that lawmakers preserve fundamental public services like health care, education, and supports for working families while the economy recovers.  To do this, legislators must take a balanced approach in dealing with the recession’s impact on the state budget – one that includes both targeted budget cuts and revenue enhancements.

The graph below shows total actions taken to balance the state budget over the course of the biennium under the Senate proposal.  New revenues, which include the modest revenue package enacted last year along with revenue actions proposed in the Senate's budget, would account for only 10 percent of total budget-balancing actions.  Painful cuts in core services would make up the dominant share (37 percent) of actions taken to balance the state budget from FY2009-11.  Federal Recovery Act money and fund transfers would account for 31 percent and 22 percent of budget-balancing actions, respectively.

Stay tuned.  Throughout the day the Budget & Policy Center will be posting analyses of the State Senate and House budget proposals.