Recently, the Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis was asked by the Port of Kennewick to conduct an “environmental scan” of the economy of the greater Tri-Cities. The overriding goal was to determine the impact of the pandemic on a variety of economic dimensions. One of...
Despite a mountain of money and bipartisan proposals to ease the state’s tax burden, legislators this year sidestepped their chance to provide Washington families and employers with meaningful, broad-based tax relief.Budget-writers in Olympia had a record budget surplus, providing the perfect opportunity to help ease the burden on employers and...
When St. Patrick’s Day rolls around on March 17, the Irish will have lots to celebrate. Ireland is still clean and green. And now, it is spending $15 million to bring visitors back. Irish tourism officials are targeting the 35 million people living in the U.S. with Irish heritage. They are...
In the old days, the decision to fund a retirement account with pre-tax dollars (traditional IRA) or fund it with after-tax dollars (Roth IRA) often hinged on when a person predicted his income would be highest and thus the tax savings greatest.So, if a person thought his or her income...
As I write this, the state is preparing to roll back Covid-19 mandates: Masks are coming off, spring is in the air, and there’s a sense of a promise to return to (something like) normal.The hospitality industry has been waiting for this moment for two years, and so have the...
As we might suspect from our own travel, tourism took a huge hit in 2020.The Benton-Franklin Trends metric on direct travel and tourism spending makes this painfully clear.Total estimated spending in the two counties plunged from about $496 million to $345 million, or a drop of 30%.What has been affected?...
When the Legislature convened the 2022 session in January, lawmakers made long-term care their first order of business.It’s probably not a topic you thought about much until recently, but news that every employee in the state (except for some who were able to opt out – more about that in...
We aren’t too far into 2022, and it is already shaping up to be another challenging year for America’s 5.5 million family businesses dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.Rampant inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and acute worker shortages continue.Family businesses are vital to America. According to the Conway Center for Family Business,...
As business owners and workers at businesses throughout the Tri-Cities, you are busy balancing your work and family life while at the same time trying to keep an eye on the issues that impact you.There are so many issues coming out of local governments in Pasco, Kennewick, Richland, West Richland,...
There’s no lack of financial press reporting on the effect of inflation on our day-to-day lives. We don’t need to read about it in popular media to feel inflation’s effect each time we fuel up our vehicles, buy groceries for our families, or pay for the variety of goods and services...
