The typical worker in Washington State must put in more than two-thirds of the year - 241 days — to pay his or her share of the expenses of all levels — local, state and federal — government. Those 241 work days include funding all the various regulatory burdens as well.

According to Americans for Tax Reform, August 29, is the day this year the average Washingtonian stopped working to fund the enormous cost government. Because of Washington’s excessive amount of taxation and regulation, Cost of Government Day (COGD) is actually 10 days later than the national date of August 19. That has also given the state the dubious distinction of dropping one spot from last year — to 46th place — the fifth latest in the country. read more »

Washington businesses Amazon.com, Coinstar and F5 Networks made FORTUNE magazine’s annual 100 FastestÅ]Growing Companies list.

Seattle’s Amazon.com ranked highest of the Washington companies, moving up on the list to No. 30 from its previous rank of No. 52. Bellevue’s Coinstar ranked No. 61, followed by F5 Networks, a Seattle-based application networking company, at No. 64. read more »

With all the focus on eliminating the Bush tax cuts and spurring the economy, President Obama and Congressional Democrats are tripping over themselves touting their small business tax breaks this election season. What they’re not mentioning is an automatic tax increase that will hit family-owned businesses hard, starting on New Year’s Day.

Unless Congress and President Obama act, the inheritance or “death tax” will automatically revert to its pre-2001 level: 55 percent of the value of one’s estate after a $1 million deduction. That tax alone often breaks a small business if its owner suddenly dies. read more »

I don’t think any casual observer would mistake National Retail Federation (NRF) for being a big fan of the new health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, or PPACA. Yes, we are hard at work, trying to help make the best out of this bad law through the regulatory process. Our first priority is to our retail and restaurant members who will have to live with the new law — positive and negative parts, alike. It doesn’t mean that we have to support the bad parts, though. read more »

Papa Murphy’s International, www.papamurphys.com, announced that it secured for the second year in a row a spot in Zagat’s Annual Fast Food Survey. America’s largest take-n-bake pizza chain ranked second in the Top Food and fourth in the Top Service categories. No other large pizza chain, establishments with less than 5,000 U.S. locations, was ranked in the top five in any category. Chains also ranked in these categories include In-N-Out Burger, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Chick-fil-A. read more »

Economists at the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University found the state income tax that is proposed in Initiative 1098 would lengthen and deepen the current economic downturn by destroying private sector jobs, reducing residents’ disposable income and prolonging the state’s high unemployment rate.

In November, voters will be asked to weigh in on this initiative that would reshape the state’s tax structure with the introduction of a state income tax. At the request of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, economists at the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University used its Washington State Tax Analysis Modeling Program (WA-STAMP) to analyze the effects I-1098 would have on the state economy. read more »

The O’Brien & Company announced that Art Castle has been chosen as the first recipient of the O’Brien & Company Hummingbird Award outside the company. This award has been given internally for nearly a year to staff members who have contributed through their creative energy to the company’s mission of sustainability, and feel strongly that Castle’s hummingbird efforts must be recognized.

Like the hummingbird, Castle has energetically and significantly spread the word about green building and green development throughout the region and beyond. read more »

CandidateCheck LLC announced the availability of www.CandidateCheck.net, a website designed to allow candidates the opportunity to have their backgrounds and credentials confirmed by an independent third party source. Authorized by the candidate and conducted by its exclusive partner TalentWise, the background check will consist of a 10 year criminal record search, 10 year civil record search, 10 year employment verification, post-secondary education verification, professional license verification, and a national sex offender registry search. read more »

Budget-focused Americans still grappling with a sluggish economy say they don’t want a substantial new Value Added Tax (VAT) that some policymakers are proposing as a way to reduce the federal deficit, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation (NRF) by BIGresearch.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed - 64 percent — said a federal VAT of any amount would impact their spending on everything from cars to homes, groceries and medicines. If the government imposed a VAT of 15 percent and applied it to all purchases, 92 percent said their spending would be affected. read more »