At the very least I wish there was some centralized small business fund to which individuals could donate, one that was coordinated across the whole state and doling out money to have the greatest impact. If anyone knows of such a thing, or if the authors have a recommendation, please post.

If the government is a business (and it most decidedly is not), it is more like a perpetual startup than any established enterprise. Our level of investment now, determines our payoff in the future. That means that any action taken to pull-back or "live within our means" damages future growth.

With that in mind, we need revenue sources that don't damage future growth. Washington state's budget was surprisingly less impacted than most states but nevertheless we definitely need to eliminate the idiotic balanced budget law. We can borrow cheap now, and we should. A windfall profits tax would be nice; these companies are not investing their money in anything useful, taxing it for housing, infrastructure, education and recovery will help future growth. A progressive income tax is a requirement for a 21st century economy. Also capital gains tax. Now would be a good time to push for these. Tie it to recovery funding. Voting against would mean voting against recovery for your constituents.

@2 - A state income tax negates the need for state capital gains taxes.

@2 No a government is not a business and therein lies the conundrum with everything you proposed. Elected officials don't have to worry about going "out of business" nor do they have any type of fiscal pressure to show a return on investment of public dollars. Do you have faith that without the balanced budget law the elected wouldn't run up massive deficits to fund pet projects and special interest groups? I sure don't. You also say these companies are not investing in anything useful? What makes you think that? Finally is enacting an income tax about fixing the regressive nature of WA's tax code or just generating more revenue for the government. It's always framed as a fix for regressive taxes however I never see any tax relief included. It's always about just providing more revenue for the government. There are many states that have income tax, sales tax and property taxes and are no better off than WA (in fact many of them are worse) so why should we believe that enacting an income tax will do anything to improve quality of life for WA residents? You'll need to answer that if you have any hope to get those things done because it will almost assuredly go to a referendum if the legislature tries to force it through on their own.

@5 ... not to Mention
Firefghters with (some) (the Lucky
ones) (having nice Bootstrapperies) home-
made PPE. trumpftopia gotta be just right around
yonder corner & where (only!) The Strong survive!
(with darwin awards for the Hindmost).

whom trumpfy* just HATES
*cum Disciples

@5 it’s pretty obvious you didn’t read what I wrote and instead just regurgitated your usual bile. The question I posed is do you trust government to act fiscally responsibly with tax dollars and not run up huge deficits with pork. There is nothing in recent history that would give me any faith in the WA legislature to show any type of self control.

@5: "It [a "blanched" budget requirement] holds the state hostage so we cannot plan long term projects."

Yes, if we want our state government to, say, replace an aging viaduct along the edge of downtown Seattle by boring the largest-diameter tunnel anywhere ever, then our state government simply must have the ability to run deficit budgets.

Wait, what?!?

@2 I agree that a progressive income tax should be paired with a meaningful reduction in the sales tax (regrettably omitted from the 2010 income tax initiative) and reduction or outright repeal of the B&O tax. There is more than enough wealth at the very top in this state that these regressive taxes can be reduced or eliminated, giving MOST state residents an overall tax cut while still increasing revenue.

Small businesses are the backbone of our society--from the corner dispensary to the ubiquitous pizza parlor. Even giants like Boeing Aircraft and Microsoft began with a few entrepreneurs joining forces. Also, women and minority start-ups should be encouraged, rather than dishing money to oddball research projects like koi farming in Sri Lanka or gay moose studies. Hopefully the new, Democratic Congress will address this important funding issue, which will help bolster the economy and provide employment, especially for young people just starting out. The Republicans revealed what swine they were when they refused to issue a 2K COVID check, which would really be a shot in the arm for the middle-class and entrepreneurs. Thank the Lord the Democrats will be in charge now.