Washington's general-fund appropriations and revenue collections moved together for most of the period. Appropriations exceeded collections during the Great Recession (by $2.3 billion in 2007-09 and $1.7 billion in 2009-11). From 2013-15 through 2021-23 collections exceeded appropriations by between $0.4 billion and $1.4 billion each biennium. In 2023-25 appropriations ($72.7 billion) exceeded collections ($67.1 billion) by about $5.6 billion, as revenue rose 3.7% while appropriations rose 14.8%; the gap was covered by fund balances and transfers.
| biennium | finalNgfMillions | revenueMillions | revenueShareOfIncomePct | spendingMinusRevenueMillions | spendingShareOfIncomePct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-07 | 30172 | 30166 | 5.95 | 6 | 5.95 |
| 2007-09 | 32597 | 30254 | 5.35 | 2343 | 5.76 |
| 2009-11 | 30274 | 28586 | 4.97 | 1688 | 5.26 |
| 2011-13 | 31471 | 31116 | 4.85 | 355 | 4.9 |
| 2013-15 | 33900 | 34305 | 4.84 | -405 | 4.78 |
| 2015-17 | 38488 | 39050 | 4.9 | -562 | 4.83 |
| 2017-19 | 44851 | 46081 | 5.09 | -1230 | 4.95 |
| 2019-21 | 52562 | 53132 | 5.05 | -570 | 5 |
| 2021-23 | 63346 | 64734 | 5.41 | -1388 | 5.29 |
| 2023-25 | 72744 | 67137 | 4.97 | 5607 | 5.39 |