This week’s Q&A is with Janetta Taylor with the Department of Revenue. I was interested in finding out how the department is dealing with nearly 70 changes to the tax code worth $800 million that go into effect on a handful of different dates — including tomorrow, when cigarettes will cost $1 more per pack.

Taylor told me about some big changes to the tax code that could help local businesses, what it would take to implement an income tax, and much more.

Q: How many changes did the Legislature make, and what does the DOR have to do to implement those changes?

Taylor: With this session we have 68 changes that came through, which is quite a few. It will be a challenge for the department to make sure that we contact all the businesses that are affected. That really is our focus: educate, educate, educate.

We have a wide variety of mechanisms to do that. In Washington, most businesses and household are connected to the Web. The first thing we did is post the information on our Web page. There’s a link to all the information with the write-ups. Of course, also some of Mike’s (Mike Gowrylow, communications director at DOR) media releases. And we also try to target mailings to the specific businesses that are impacted. We have about 450,000 registered businesses. Not all of these changes affect all businesses. We look at businesses by their activity and we tailor specific mailings to them and try to get them all the information they need.

We also have special things going on with electronic filing. A large number of our tax payers actually file electronically so we can send them e-mails or send them alerts in the system.

Q: The $1 per pack addition to the cigarette tax goes into effect tomorrow (May 1). What did you have to do to implement something like that?

Taylor: The ones that start tomorrow were quite challenging because we did have a short time frame. We actually started planning before the bill was signed. (more…)

Tags: Department of Revenue, income tax, Legislature, taxes

Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed Bill Hanson to lead the Washington State Lottery today. The lottery nets about $120 million a year for state programs, and changes passed by the Legislature this year will significantly redirect that money.

“Bill is the right director at the right to time to usher in this new phase of the state’s lottery, especially as it helps fund critical programs like education,” Gregoire said in a news release.

Hanson is a former state patrol officer and has served on the lottery commission. He replaces Christopher Liu.

The “new phase” Gregoire mentioned refers to where lotto money will be going: To the “Opportunity Pathways” account. That money will go toward “recruitment of entrepreneurial researchers, innovation partnership zones, and research teams; the early childhood education and assistance program (ECEAP); the State Need Grant; the State Work Study program; College Bound Scholarships; Washington Promise Scholarships; Washington Scholars; the Washington Award for Vocational Excellence (WAVE).”

Hanson will start work on May 16 and make $115,000 a year.

Speaking of the Washington Lottery, it recently got a lot of attention from indie-hipster news sites for the newest ad, featuring an unreleased Grizzly Bear song.

Tags: Washington Lottery

On this week’s edition of Inside Olympia, Austin Jenkins talks to State Treasurer Jim McIntire and State Actuary Matt Smith about the health of the state’s finances.

Tags: pension

Tags: 520

I just left the press conference held by Gov. Chris Gregoire — who was joined by King Co. Executive Dow Constantine, Sen. Rodney Tom, Rep. Scott White, Rep. Judy Clibburn, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen and more — to announce the “preferred” 520 replacement plan.

The plan includes changes from earlier versions: There’s room for light rail, the bridge will be lower in the middle, it reduces impact on the arboretum, and it is more urban friendly.

Though Gregoire was joined by a handful of state and local politicians who have worked on the bridge, one local official was missing: Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. Gregoire said he was presented with the plan and expressed concerns over a lack of light rail on the bridge, but she isn’t sure what his assessment of the plan is. She said he may hold a separate press conference on the matter today.  Gregoire said the new bridge will accommodate light rail — as soon as Sound Transit has a plan and funding: “We have a plan for light rail, light rail’s not ready for 520.”

Gregoire said the bridge plan will stay within the original $4.65 billion budget. But, she said, they still don’t know where $2 billion of that will come from. She said she would prefer that funding would not come from the gas tax or any other plan that taxes the entire state for a Seattle project. Rep. Judy Clibborn, however, said the funding could come from a mix of federal, state and tolling funds.

Tags: 520, Gregoire

I’m at UW for the press conference during which Gov. Chris Gregoire will announce the “preferred” replacement plan for the 520 bridge. The press conference will get started in about 30 minutes, but there is no reliable wireless internet connection in the outdoor area where they plan to make the announcement. So: I’ll post my notes here right after the press conference. Then, we’ll head back to TVW to get the video posted.

In the meantime, here’s what the Seattle Times says is in store: No arboretum connection to 520, a more urban friendly design, and an open-air gap between lanes to allow for room for light rail in the future.

Construction on the pontoons is to begin in 2011.

Tags: 520

Tags: The Impact

The state’s ban on felon voting, which was overturned earlier this year, will have another hearing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

There is no time-line for when the 14-year-old case will be heard. It will be decided by 10 judges selected from the circuit.

The Secretary of State’s Office has the scoop here.

Tags: felon voting

Washington sent in 74 percent of its Census forms — meaning one in four households will get a personal visit from the Census crew.

Of course, the whole point of the Census is to count how many people there are. And it’s difficult to figure out the percentage of people who have returned their forms if you don’t know how many households there are. But: The figure represents the number of U.S. households “believed to be occupied.” They’ll do a check — and release a final mail return rate — in the fall.

Tomorrow at 10 a.m., regional Census director Ralph Lee will detail how he plans to visit the remaining households to count Washington’s citizens.

Washington’s mail-in participation is good, but not the best: “States with the highest mail participation rates include: Wisconsin (81 percent), Minnesota (80 percent), Iowa (78 percent) and Indiana (78 percent).”

The cities here with the highest participation are Beaux Arts Village and Normandy Parks, each with an 86 percent return rate. That beats the pants off Hinsdale County, Colorado’s 19 percent return rate.

For an interactive map of return rates across the nation, go here.

Tags: census

Tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., Gov. Chris Gregoire will announce the “preferred” replacement for the 520 bridge. TVW will be there taping the event, and I’ll be live-blogging here.

Gregoire will be joined by local and state government representatives for the announcement.

The 520 replacement has caused some controversy: Mass transit advocates wanted room for light rail on the bridge, but the plan so far favored a six-lane replacement with one lane in each direction for carpoolers and buses.

As the Washington Department of Transportation page explains here, the 520 needs to be replaced because it’s susceptible to earthquakes and high wind.

Here’s their video on what could happen in an earthquake, for example:

Tags: 520, bridge, transit, WSDOT