Tax collections for the state continued to outperform expectations in the last month, according to the monthly revenue report published by the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. The update notes that collections for the period of August 11th to September 10th were $14.5 million or 0.7 percent higher than forecasted in June. When accounting for the cumulative change since the June forecast, collections are up $142.8 million or 2 percent higher than forecasted.
This growth comes as growth in employment slows in the United States, while unemployment and layoff announcements increased. Despite this, unemployment in Washington has held at 4.5 percent for the past four months although up from 4.3 percent at the beginning of the year. In Seattle, consumer price inflation grew in the month of August up 2.8 percent since August 2024.
Growth in the report was driven by sales, use, and business and occupation taxes. The growth during the last three months has been dampened by large refunds not included in the June forecast. Cumulative collections would have increased 4.1 percent higher without these refunds. Also contributing to the growth were retail trade tax payments that increased 3.6 percent year over year, driven by electronics and appliance sales that were up 17.8 percent, and growth in the manufacturing sector.
The next revenue forecast will be released on September 23rd.