​Of the 39 counties in Washington, 30 receive more in benefits from the state budget than
they send to Olympia as revenue. Obviously, that means that the other nine counties generate more revenue for the state from their residents and businesses than the state budget directs their way. And of those nine, in only three – King, San Juan and Garfield – is the disparity more than a few percentage points.
Those are key findings of a report prepared by the state Office of Financial Management for House Finance Chair Reuven Carlyle, whose Seattle district is in King County, which generated $2 billion-plus more in state revenue in the 2011 fiscal year that it received in state spending – by far the largest difference in terms of dollars among the counties. Carlyle wrote about the report on his blog, and the Seattle Times covered his release of the information as well.