A Vancouver, Wash. one-weekend holiday from sales taxes meant for K-12 students in southwest Washington could impact university students. Families who live and work in southwest Washington avoid Oregon’s income tax, and often head to nearby Portland to avoid the Washington sales tax.
Tax-free shopping
A Vancouver, Wash. one-weekend holiday from sales taxes meant for K-12 students in southwest Washington could impact university students.
Families who live and work in southwest Washington avoid Oregon’s income tax, and often head to nearby Portland to avoid the Washington sales tax.
A legislator from Vancouver has introduced a bill in the Washington Legislature that would keep back-to-school shoppers at home-at least for a little while.
The bill would create a one-weekend holiday from sales taxes on computers and computer supplies, clothing, school art supplies, instructional materials and other school supplies. The bill sets a limit on eligible items. A computer, for example, would have to cost less than $2,000.
Rep. Jim Moeller, a Democrat, said the legislation would have a big effect on shoppers and businesses in his district, and Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the Washington Retail Association, predicted that such a tax holiday would indeed lead to a spike in sales.
“Psychologically, people want to save money on sales taxes as opposed to just having a sale of 20 percent off,” Johnson said. “It’s all psychological. My members can offer a 20 to 25 percent-off discount, but it doesn’t come close to the response to a tax holiday.”
Julie Brandis, an Oregon retail lobbyist, said she doesn’t know what effect a tax holiday in Washington would have on businesses in Oregon.
“I don’t think it would have that big an impact because the portion of Washington we’re speaking of is such a small area,” said Brandis, executive director of the Associated Oregon Industries Foundation.
The bill might not even pass. The Association of Washington Cities worries that the bill would take too much tax money from the governments that need it to operate, said spokesman Jim Justin.
Washington as a whole would miss out on more than $8 million if the bill passes, Justin said, adding that cities in the Seattle area, which are far from Oregon, were the most outspoken against the bill at a House Finance Committee hearing Friday.
