HawkShack.com

With apologies to Obi...

I have a friend from Portland...Packers fan...that after we resigned Russell Wilson started making some smart Alec remarks about how much more us Washingtonians were going to pay in taxes to finance his new contract, so here's my reply:

https://www.columbian.com/news/2019/apr ... G9VoCyqDwU

North Hawk, since you're in BC, you get to experience the thrill of helping out with Russell's contract, too.

Nice. How this ever got instituted in the first place is beyond me.

In addition to the other benefits, this is going to reduce checkout time at Costco by 50%.

burrrton wrote:Nice. How this ever got instituted in the first place is beyond me.

In addition to the other benefits, this is going to reduce checkout time at Costco by 50%.

50%? I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it will result in my having lower blood pressure when they no longer ask me if I'm an OR resident.

It was the business lobby that got this exemption in and kept it there for 60+ years. It's inherently unfair as if you live in WA and work in OR, you'll have to pay their income tax yet an OR resident can come up here and be exempt from paying our sales tax.

50%? I think that's a bit of an exaggeration

You think correctly.

LOL, I love putting Oregon ducks in their place which is what I thought this thread was going to be about. I love reminding them of their record against lowly ol' Boise State... They usually walk away after that...

50%? I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it will result in my having lower blood pressure when they no longer ask me if I'm an OR resident.

It was the business lobby that got this exemption in and kept it there for 60+ years. It's inherently unfair as if you live in WA and work in OR, you'll have to pay their income tax yet an OR resident can come up here and be exempt from paying our sales tax.

Great move Riv, so all the Businesses in Walla Walla will have to move over the border. Slick trick!

50%? I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it will result in my having lower blood pressure when they no longer ask me if I'm an OR resident.

It was the business lobby that got this exemption in and kept it there for 60+ years. It's inherently unfair as if you live in WA and work in OR, you'll have to pay their income tax yet an OR resident can come up here and be exempt from paying our sales tax.

obiken wrote:Great move Riv, so all the Businesses in Walla Walla will have to move over the border. Slick trick!

Hehe. Don't think so, obi. Most of the viable businesses in WW are associated with wineries/tourism in the downtown area. It's unlikely there'll be a massive shift to M-F unless they can take all those neat old buildings with them. The greater impact will be on all those folks that live in Hermiston and Pendleton making weekend trips to Costco in Kennewick.

Great move Riv, so all the Businesses in Walla Walla will have to move over the border. Slick trick!

Obi, I'm not sure you thought this one through.

Ok Burry, but what about Car sales? if you think those old folks in MF are going to pay a massive ST on cars you don't know them. I live in Wilsonville now, I never shop in WA anymore anyway. I never worried about the tax unless it got over 100 bucks anyway.

obiken wrote:Ok Burry, but what about Car sales? if you think those old folks in MF are going to pay a massive ST on cars you don't know them. I live in Wilsonville now, I never shop in WA anymore anyway. I never worried about the tax unless it got over 100 bucks anyway.

According to my understanding, OR residents can make a one time per year claim to have their sales tax payments reimbursed, so in the case of a major purchase like a car or a boat, they can still get refunded. But WA legislators are speculating that just as you indicated, most people will either be unaware of the ability to get refunded or won't want to bother with the paperwork.

There are A LOT of Oregonians that make the 30-60 minute drive to the Tri Cities. I suspect that most will continue to make that trip as a place like Costco can yield huge savings for a large family, and the price difference by gassing up there can help offset the expense of making the trip.

I've had to put up with this unfairness for 50 years. As a WA resident working for a WA farmer driving a pea combine in the 70's, any field we worked on in OR they held out OR income tax from my paycheck, yet an OR resident could come over here and not get charged WA sales tax, AND if I drove to OR and bought something, I still owed WA sales tax.

Ok Burry, but what about Car sales? if you think those old folks in MF are going to pay a massive ST on cars you don't know them.

Yeah, missing out on all those weekly car purchases from the residents of Milton-Freewater, population 7000, is going to sting a bit.

[edit]

That's also not the scenario you described. Of course OR residents will be more reluctant to come to WA to shop, but they either have the store they need in OR or they don't (eg. Costco, as RD mentioned).

If the latter, they'll still come to WA to shop- they don't have a choice.

If the former, they weren't driving to WA anyway- the store in OR wasn't charging them tax, either.