Washington state’s revenue projections are in better shape than forecast, according to a recent monthly update from the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.
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The update covered the period from July 11th to August 10th, 2021. One of the great realizations is that Washington’s exports of transportation equipment, mostly Boeing aircraft, rose for the first time in two and a half years. Compared to the previous year, exports of means of transport increased by 241%. Agricultural exports excluding soybeans and corn increased slightly, and exports from all other sectors increased 20% over the year.
Car and truck sales also rose in July after falling in May and June. Seasonally adjusted, registrations rose by 4.3% in July, after falling by 5.8% in May and 12.2% in June.
Revenue Act taxes, consisting of sales, excise, B&O, consumption and tobacco taxes and related penalties and interest payments, were $ 58.7 million higher than forecast in June. The accumulated collections are now 45.3 million US dollars higher than forecast due to the previous month’s shortfall.
One of the most significant sales increases was Real Estate Excise Tax (REET), which was 41.7% higher than forecast at $ 55.5 million.
The report says:
“The anomaly was entirely due to an increase in sales of large commercial properties (properties valued at $ 10 million or more) to $ 2.56 billion from $ 847 million last month.”
Some national statistics from the report also include:
- US employment rose 943,000 jobs in July; the unemployment rate fell to 5.4%.
- Real US GDP grew 6.5% in the second quarter.
- In the twelve months to July 2021, consumer prices rose 5.4%.
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