WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Statement from Rep. Sharon Wylie on her amendment to the Revenue Package

“This is a critical amendment to a critical bill. The House revenue package produces the money we need to fund the services we promised we’d protect. It invests in education, it preserves our safety net, and we make sure it doesn’t cost jobs.

But some of the sales tax exemptions that allow us to produce this revenue without raising taxes—which people clearly said they do not want—can have a counter-effect in my district where 20 percent of some of the retail business comes from out-of-state shoppers. That’s 20 percent our businesses cannot afford to lose in a fragile economy.

For some of the retailers in my district this amendment is critically important, as not charging the sales tax helps close a sale, especially when it comes to big-ticket items.

My amendment will allow these retail businesses to continue offering the sales tax exemption to out-of-state shoppers, but it preserves a lot of the revenue the state needs to fulfill the promises we made to our constituents back home, which deserve to be kept. 

The easy thing would be to vote for this revenue package without my amendment. But the business community has done numerous studies and they’ve found that a lot of these businesses really depend on this 20 percent from out-of-state shoppers. With my amendment, their customers will have the option to get a refund on the sales tax they pay, much like we do when we purchase something in Canada.

My amendment ensures that these businesses have a way to market their goods on both sides of the river and keeps jobs in Southwest Washington.”

Rep. Wylie’s amendment (2038-S AMH WYLI H2555.1) to HB 2038 was adopted on the House Floor earlier today.