Fiscal Policy Web Links

Policy Sites: provide useful written analyses of current issues.
Washington State Specific Sites: offer access to state and local data and analyses.
Data Sites: contain datasets of quantitative information ready for analysis.

Policy Sites

The Urban Institute: A non-profit think-tank focused on social and economic issues. This well-organized home page features abstracts from recently released Institute-related papers on "hot topics" like welfare reform, Medicaid, tax reform, and block grants. Also, check out their Social Policy Database, an excellent resource for cross-state comparisons of relevant social policy indicators.
The Electronic Policy Network: This home page supports Idea Central, an on-line virtual magazine about politics and policy. EPN is sponsored by a series of organizations like the Center on Budget and Policy Prioritie s, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Center for Law and Social Policy. EPN offers quick links to texts from analytical articles about issues of economic development, politics, welfare reform, and health policy.
Handsnet: A national non-profit organization aimed at "linking the human services community on line." Although it has a membership/subscription portion, it also has good linkages to current abstracts on current issues in the human services community. It is especially helpful for housing, welfare, and child welfare issues.
United States General Accounting Office (GAO): Offers access to GAO reports and testimony based on their audits and performance evaluations of government programs. The page offers the option to browse through the 10 0 most frequently requested GAO reports.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: As the homepage of The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities describes this non-profit organization, CBPP provides non-partisan analyses of national, state, and local budget a nd policy issues, focusing specifically on impacts on low and moderate income populations.
California Budget Project: One of FPC's sister organizations, the California Budget Project home page links to their most recent analyses and reports about California state fiscal policy.

Washington State Specific Sites

Home Page Washington: Consider Home Page Washington the starting point for accessing information about Washington state government services. It offers a helpful internal search engine as well as links to state govern ment agency home pages and local government home pages.
Washington State Department of Revenue: Under the Publications heading is a series of good, short articles providing definitions and brief descriptions of the various elements of Washington state's tax st ructure. These short articles, on topics like the B&O tax and the sales tax provide background information for explaining the state tax structure. You also have access to some general statistics about various tax rates and revenue generated in recent ye ars.
Washington Employment Security Department: This home page of the Labor Market and Economic Analysis Branch of Employment Security offers current state labor market data and special reports from the LMEA.

Data Sites

The Census Bureau: Provides direct access to databases of recent census collections. It has helpful data access tools that let you design your own queries for filtering the data. Also check out some of these pag es on this site:
- 1996 State Tax Collection Data by State
- Federal, State and Local Government Data (including Schools)
The Green Book: Provides tables and tables of data and information about various government programs like Social Security, AFDC, child support, and other support programs.
Bureau of Labor and Statistics: Offers quick links to frequently requested time-series data for employment statistics. You can also write your own queries if you know exactly what you are looking for. In addition, you can take a look at the "economy" at a glance" and read current reports on employment and other labor statistics.
Bureau of Economic Analysis: The Bureau of Economic Analysis is an agency of the Department of Commerce. BEA describes itself as the nation's accountant, collecting and tracking economic data aobut the nation. The home page offers access to the Survey of Current Business and all major economic indicators.
STAT-USA: A service of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Stat-USA offers data access to the major economic indicators, including housing starts, GDP, and personal income. The home page also connects you to financial market information, industry statistics, and price and productivity indicators.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB): The OMB homepage provides access to the up-coming fiscal year's budget. It includes a helpful Citizen's Guide explaining the budget and the budget process. It also offers analyses of the President's budget proposals.
University of Michigan Documents Center: The Documents Center is basically your government publications librarian on the Internet. It will direct you to many relevant sites for just about all information pertaining to international, federal, state, and local government information.