business backgrounder | budget
anticipate additional revenue loss
All of this is irrelevant to a virus that does not respect political boundaries or revenue forecasts. From March to July, large portions
of America shut down, opened up and then started to shut down again. Some states are still open as of this writing, while others
have paused or rolled back their economies to fight the virus. It’s an uneven playing field at best, and millions are still out of work.
Washington’s chief state economist, Steve Lerch, highlighted the ambiguity in a presentation to lawmakers in June. He quoted
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who said a full recovery is unlikely until the public is confident the disease is contained.
“I think the point of that quote is simply, there’s a lot of uncertainly about how consumers and how businesses will react to
COVID-19 going forward,” Lerch said.
Despite this uncertainty, AWB
is committed to helping employers
rebound and recover.
“Now is the time to give employers
and employees every possible tool to
recover, not to add new burdens,” AWB
President Kris Johnson wrote in a July
newspaper column. “You can’t tax your
way out of a recession. But you can grow
and build your way out.”
additional information
Washington Research Council New report:
Budgeting in the Great Recession, and Lessons for Today
https://researchcouncil.org/
new-report-state-budgeting-in-the-great-recession-and-lessons-for-today/
Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast, June 2020
https://erfc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/public/documents/publications/jun20pub.pdf
40 association of washington business