With all due respect, The Columbian’s premise on Initiative 1464 is fundamentally flawed. It assumes that people who claim to be Oregon residents shopping in Clark County actually are.
For the most part, they are not. These are people living in Clark County who are still claiming to be Oregon residents (the same folks who are also cheating on their car tags) to cheat the system. I have lived in Clark County for 16 years and have been in line behind these supposed Oregon residents many, many times. Why would an Oregon resident cross the river to shop at Wal-Mart or the grocery store?
Answer: They aren’t Oregon residents but folks living in Washington state who are just trying to get by on the cheap. The cashiers know it. The folks who live here know it. Time to close the loophole for these folks who don’t pay their fair share. Initiative 1464 won’t hurt Clark County merchants. It will just get people who are pretending to be Oregon residents but who actually live in our county to pay their fair share.
