(The Center Square) – Washington state faces deficit spending by 2028 as lawmakers just hit taxpayers with the state's largest combined tax increase – all driven by massive state spending increases over the past decade, an investigation of state budgets by The Center Square found. Washington state spent about $80 billion in the 2013-15 budget but is set to spend more than $173 billion in 2025-27, a more than 116% increase over that time. U.S. inflation since 2015 has risen just 35.63%.