What Does A “No Revenue” Budget Mean?
Catastrophic cuts to services that save lives
Due to increasing needs, rising inflation, and slowing revenue growth, Washington state is facing a budget deficit. Washington’s tax structure requires more spending by low- and middle-income residents, and with the wealth gap growing between billionaires and regular working families, we’re all falling behind.
WHAT ARE THE BUDGET CUTS
Because there is a very real, very significant budget deficit due to inflation, growing needs, and slowing revenue growth, we have to consider what cuts might mean to Washington residents. Before leaving office, Governor Inslee put out an example of an all cuts, no revenue budget. It’s not the budget you heard about in the news, with new revenue to balance. This example budget was the “Book 1” or “No Revenue” budget. It’s based on current law, assuming no new taxes or changes to policies. The goal was to show just how bad these cuts would be and they are DEVASTATING.
Want to see all the examples of possible cuts? Click here for Governor Inslee’s New Law vs. Current Law differences
Healthcare
WHAT COULD HAPPEN: Catastrophic cuts to Medicaid, health care, and public health funding in Washington state, eliminating or significantly reducing key programs that keep people alive and healthy, leading to unaccounted for costs in the future.
Learn more here.
Human Services & Early Learning
WHAT COULD HAPPEN: Cuts to human services and early learning programs that eliminate and significantly reduce services provided to those in poverty and low-income households.
Learn more here.
Higher Education
WHAT COULD HAPPEN: Washington’s students, universities, colleges, and all institutions of higher learning would suffer with over $1 billion in cuts.
Learn more here.
Long Term Care & Developmental Disabilities
WHAT COULD HAPPEN: Seniors, people with developmental disabilities, and those in need of long term care see massive reductions to services designed to ensure quality of life.
Learn more here.
Behavioral Health
WHAT COULD HAPPEN: Behavioral health investments take a significant reduction, including reduction to training and treatment for substance use disorder.
Learn more here.
Corrections
WHAT COULD HAPPEN: Significant cuts to efforts to provide treatment to those who enter the criminal justice system, as well as reentry investments, and staffing for health care in the Department of Corrections.
Learn more here.
LET’S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON CUTS
Gaps and Gains
Rep. Natasha Hill highlights how our current tax system continues to widen the gap between hardworking Washington residents and the wealthiest in the state.
Dialysis is NOT optional
Rep. Mari Leavitt offers her family’s experience with kidney dialysis to explain why cutting $3.5 billion from state funded health care can lead to terrible outcomes.
Protecting Families First
Rep. Kristine Reeves explains why $1.3 billion in cuts to early learning and human services will be harmful to working families (and lead to a higher cost of living).
Absolutely essential to have revenue
Rep. Beth Doglio explains how $3.5 billion in cuts to Health Care will hurt children in her district and across the state.
Bad for all of us
Rep. Nicole Macri shares why cuts to housing and homelessness isn’t just bad for the people who need those services, but for ALL Washington communities.
Keep that promise
Rep. Julia Reed knows that young people want to work hard and get on the path to a great career, but cutting higher education will only hurt those goals.
The Challenge
Rep. Monica Stonier shares why, with revenue growth slowing and need increasing, our tax structure means big challenges for the state budget.
Fix The Tax Code
We have told you about our budget deficit and what budget cuts would mean to Washington residents and families. Now, how are we going to fix it? Rep. Natasha Hill has the answer: FIX. THAT. TAX CODE.
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This week our members have shared stories about what's at risk if revenue isn't raised to help fill the $12 billion deficit, including cuts to health care, the social safety net, higher education, child care, and more.
But how did we get here?
#waleg
— WA State House Democrats (@housedemocrats.wa.gov) March 2, 2025 at 12:45 PM