Case in point, digital advertising costs are about to jump roughly 10% for Washington businesses thanks to a record tax package rammed through the legislature last spring. In total, the new tax package is expected to generate more than $9 billion to prop up state spending in the current budget. Just over one billion will come from extending the retail sales tax to "advertising services" and several high-tech categories (IT support, custom software and website development, security, temporary staffing, and more).
As the primary source of revenue for government at the state, local, and federal levels, taxes are a certainty. But the ways in which tax codes are drawn up and implemented are not, and variations in tax policy at the state-level can have meaningful economic implications. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the private sector accounts for nearly 89% of gross domestic product and over 87% of employment in the United States.