Washington can strengthen its economy by bringing greater discipline to state spending, creating a predictable and stable tax environment and reducing regulatory barriers to growth, according to a report released this week by the Association of Washington Business (AWB) and Washington Roundtable.
The report captures the shared priorities and recommendations from the Economic Future Solutions Summit, a one-day event in July that brought together more than 150 business leaders, policymakers and economic development experts to create a growth agenda for Washington’s economy.
It marks the next chapter of the Washington in the Making 2040 long-range economic plan that envisions Washington as a top state for starting, growing and selling a business, according to a news release from AWB.
“Following sweeping tax policy changes over the past two years, Washington employers need stability and predictability,” AWB President Kris Johnson said. “This report, informed by business and policy leaders across the state, provides a practical roadmap for growing the economy. Washington has long had an economy that is the envy of the world, but we’re losing ground to other states. We hope policymakers take these recommendations seriously and act to strengthen Washington’s competitiveness.”
Key recommendations from the summit include:
• Adopt a priority-based budgeting process
• Build budgets around realistic revenue forecasts
• Pause new taxes and require new taxes to be vetted over at least two legislative sessions
• Reduce unnecessary, duplicative and obsolete regulations
• Fix permitting and licensing bottlenecks, including establishing guaranteed processing timelines
• Ensure small and medium businesses have a real opportunity to shape policymaking
At the summit, small business owners spoke about the compounding pressures of higher taxes and rising costs.
"When I say it's death by a thousand cuts, what I really mean is that context matters,” Nathaniel Dick, vice president of TigerStop, a family-run manufacturing company in Vancouver, said in the release. “One policy change by itself may not be that big of a deal, but when you start stacking them together, the impact is huge."
Summit attendees overwhelmingly agreed that improving the state’s competitiveness starts with greater tax and regulatory predictability. The report highlights examples from other states that have improved their business climate through fiscal discipline and changes to streamline permitting.
Gov. Bob Ferguson has also taken steps to address some of these challenges, issuing executive orders to speed up permitting and creating a new Economic Development Council charged with developing recommendations to strengthen Washington’s economy.
The report is intended to inform that broader conversation and provide a roadmap for legislators as they prepare for the 2027 legislative session.
View the Economic Future Solutions Summit report at https://tinyurl.com/54hjwpmn.
