The state anticipates $1.4 billion less in tax revenue through July 1, 2013, than previously thought, opening a new deficit close to $1.3 billion just months after the Legislature balanced the budget with widespread cuts.
That’s according to this report released this morning by the state’s Revenue and Forecast Council. It remains to be seen how the Legislature will react. If nothing else, the Council is scheduled to release its next forecast November 17. The governor will base her supplemental budget proposal on that report.
Much of the sharp downturn in revenue expectations is being driven by national and international forces, despite some positive developments in Washington’s aerospace and software industries and for Washington exports.
“We are in the fragile aftermath of the Great Recession where a return to normalcy seems like a mirage in the desert—the closer we get to it, the further it moves away,” the report reads.
Arun Raha, the state’s chief economist, left little room for optimism.
“I see no end in sight,” Raha said. “The best we can hope for is we don’t slip back into another recession.”