The Economic Policy Institute (the progressive matter to Washington Policy Center's libertarian antimatter) offers three different views today of the size of the state budget over the years, and concludes that "the closer you get, the smaller it looks."

Following up on yesterday's post  looking at the size of the state's general fund, adjusted for inflation and state population size (by that measure, the budget has declined 24 percent since 1991), EOI looks today at the budget as a percentage of the state's gross domestic product; as a percentage of per capital income; and in terms of the number of state employees per 1,000 residents over time. All numbers are adjusted for inflation.

Taken as a percentage of GDP, the state's general-fund budget (the main fund that supports state government, excluding transportation and capital projects) has dropped from 6.0 percent of the state's economy in 1997 to just 4.1 percent of GDP in 2011 (after a slight bump between 1999 and 2002).

As a portion of income, spending has also trended steadily down, with a few small bumps along the way. In 1991, state spending was equivalent to 8.3 percent of state residents' personal income; in 2011, it was 4.9 percent.

Finally, the number of state employees, relative to the state's growing population, has also declined---from 16.6 employees per capital in 2001 to 15.4 employees per capital in 2011.

"Whether you use economic growth or personal income as your yardstick, Washington’s operations budget is smaller than it’s been in 20 years," the report concludes. And "if state government employment is your measure, it’s at a decade-plus low relative to the state’s population."