WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Cut tax preferences for Oregon shoppers and send that money to Washington students

“We all need to pay our fair share of taxes, including out-of-state shoppers. To level the playing field, we need to close some of Washington’s tax loopholes. One such loophole allows thousands of Oregonians to escape paying our sales tax when they shop in Vancouver.

“But no, it doesn’t have to be that way.

“We passed House Bill 2036 last night (Thursday, June 6, 2013) to convert the nonresident sales-tax exemption to a remittance program. What this means is that Oregon and other out-of-state residents will owe the sales tax initially. However, these folks can apply to our Department of Revenue for a remittance of Washington sales taxes paid in the previous calendar year. People can seek remittance of both state and local sales taxes, as long as the amount of the remittance claim exceeds $25.”