Last year, the Legislature passed a painful all-cuts 2009-11 budget to close a $9 billion gap between projected revenue and the cost of maintaining existing public services.

This year, thanks to a persistent national recession, legislators faced another $2.8 billion shortfall. (Republicans tried to characterize it a product of excessive Democratic spending, but 47 other states, including many run by the GOP, faced similar deficits.) The Washington State Labor Council and many other community advocates for public services called on lawmakers to abandon last year’s punitive, destructive all-cuts approach and to raise substantial revenue by closing tax loopholes.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate agreed that they couldn’t in good conscience cut their way out of this mess again, but it took a 30-day special extended session for them to agree how to do it. In the end, $757 million was raised, mostly through a temporary B&O tax surcharge for service businesses ($242 million), additional taxes on beer, soda, bottled water and candy ($150 million), and the closure of a tax loophole for out-of-state banks and credit-card firms ($85 million).

A nearly equal amount -- about $750 million -- was cut. (See more details above.) The remainder of the shortfall was addressed by tapping reserves, using federal stimulus funding, and shifting money from other accounts.