Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is rehashing a plan to have nonresidents apply for a refund for only the state portion (6.5 percent) of the sales tax paid on purchases in the state. This plan, and all the others, intended to influence a state sales tax on the neighbors in Oregon has been wisely rejected by Washington legislators time and time again.
This writer believes that the governor’s think tank is empty to once again propose an impractical plan, which would severely impact local businesses. When this plan originated, an out-of-stater would need to provide many pieces of documentation plus a copy of the receipt for each purchase. To systematically approve such mind-boggling amount of information, a whole new costly state bureaucracy would need to be formed with considerable number of staff and managers.
Today, the system works flawlessly and inexpensively while significantly adding to the customer base for businesses in Southwest Washington.
Our federal government has such a refund system intact for our income tax refunds. Is that without fraud? Hardly. Is it costly? Many would agree. Could the state of Washington do better? Probably not. I believe the proposed state sales tax refund system could easily be compromised without much effort.
Yes, the governor’s think tank has holes in it. It is time to move on.
