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AWB panel warns $78 billion budget and fast-paced tax changes could deepen affordability squeeze
Summary
AWB policy experts told an audience in Vancouver that the 2025 legislative session produced a nearly $78 billion budget reliant on roughly $9.4 billion of new revenue, including what presenters described as the largest tax increase in state history, and they criticized the speed and transparency of the process.
At the Association of Washington Business’ spring meeting in Vancouver, AWB tax and policy staff said the 2025 legislative session produced a nearly $78 billion state budget that depends on roughly $9.4 billion in new revenue and moved through the Legislature at high speed.
Max Martin, AWB’s tax and fiscal policy lead, told attendees the budget was finalized in about 30 hours and that detailed fiscal information — including the fiscal note for House Bill 2081, which presenters described as the session’s single largest tax-increase measure — was not available to the public or many stakeholders until shortly before votes were taken. “We didn’t have that document until an hour before it was voted out the Senate,” Martin said, arguing that the gap made it difficult for lawmakers, businesses and the public to assess unintended consequences.
The panel said the revenue package included proposals that drew particular scrutiny this year, including a proposed wealth tax (described in the presentation as 0.5% on certain assets above $250 million) and a proposed payroll tax (described as a 6% charge on wages above the Social Security threshold). Martin said both proposals failed to pass but warned they could return in future sessions and could push people or jobs out of the state.
Panelists also highlighted redistribution of funding within higher education: Emily Whitman, AWB’s health and education policy lead, said the budget included $600 million in new taxes dedicated to workforce education and that UW now receives a larger share from the newly created Workforce Education Investment Account.
The presenters urged members to use AWB resources and committee channels to track interim work and provide input before bills are filed or moved rapidly. “You don’t make something more affordable by making it more expensive,” Martin said, summarizing the panel’s framing that rapid revenue-and-spending changes risk worsening affordability for households and employers.
The session closed with an audience Q&A in which a small-business owner raised concerns about higher operating costs; AWB leaders directed attendees to committee engagement and upcoming AWB events for continued discussion.
AWB’s presentation did not report formal votes from the Legislature; the panel’s critique focused on process speed, late fiscal transparency and the budget’s reliance on new revenue.
