In 2008, the destination sales tax went into effect. It is set up so when a retailer sold something, and the item(s) was to be delivered by a third party to the purchaser in a different city/county, the retailer would charge the sales tax of the delivered city/county, which was paid to that city/county. If the purchaser took the item(s) with them, then the sales tax would be the location of the seller and paid to that city/county.
This distribution of the destination tax was long overdue, but it fell short. Each transaction has a buyer and a seller, with both bringing benefits to the transaction, so why not split the tax 50/50? Right now the destination city/county gets 100 percent of the sales tax and the selling city/county gets 0 percent. It is more equitable for both the purchasing and the selling city/county to split the sales tax equally, 50/50. This can easily be accomplished today with computers. We all have 9-digit ZIP codes.
I suggest the Washington state Senate/House make this modification without any delay so that all of the parties, the purchasing city/county and the selling city/county, to the transaction get an equal and equitable share of the sales tax. The sales tax charged should be based upon the seller’s location — to keep it simple.
Mike Lantz
Edmonds
