Do you guys do all your shopping in Oregon? (Vancouver: sales, real estate)

[ElektroDragon]

I recently moved to WA and chose Kirkland, but then I discovered Oregon has no sales tax, and Vancouver is right on the border. So do all you Vancover folk go into Portland to do all your shopping, thereby having a sales tax AND state income tax free existence? I know I would. I'm jealous!!

[StealthRabbit]

no, we like to support our local merchants. (especially if we own WA commercial real estate and lease to small businesses)

If we shop in OR there is a convenient WA Department of Revenue office on this side of the border where we can drop by and pay the sales tax.

If you file a business return, you report all non-taxed purchases as 'use tax', and pay the equivalent rate, and OF COURSE you pay personal property tax on ALL business related assets like staplers and waste baskets and pencils and stuff.

If you have any items delivered from an OR store you need to pay sales tax to the merchant.

Of course cars and boats and dump trucks... bought out of state pay sales tax at time of licensing. If you license in OR, your neighbor gets bonus points for reporting you to the State Patrol, who will immediately check you utility records to see where you REALLY live...

WA is a great place to pay taxes, currently ranked #7 in USA (IIRC).

[ElektroDragon]

"If we shop in OR there is a convenient WA Department of Revenue office on this side of the border where we can drop by and pay the sales tax."

You have got to be joking. I'm sorry I asked. You must be the guy who came up with New York's "let's make sure no one can avoid paying us sales tax no matter where and how they shopped" laws.

[cdelena]

Although I make it a habit to support local vendors there are times when it just makes sense to take the short ride to see a wider selection and duck the sales tax. When buying furniture I did try to get competitive prices from outlets on both sides of the river but found the lowest total price came consistently from the Oregon stores.

For 99% of our shopping we stay here in Washington.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

...You have got to be joking. I'm sorry I asked. You must be the guy who came up with New York's "let's make sure no one can avoid paying us sales tax no matter where and how they shopped" laws.

No, I don't make the rules, nor did I vote for our non-elected governor who does (tho I hear my deceased dad cast a ballot for her in his absence, at least he was not one of the many convicts that helped tip the scales )

You don't have to follow the sales tax rules, but the opportunity is encouraged. They (DOR office) claim they don't get a lot of voluntary donors. It would be real ez to get credit card, receipt, and bank info and I have heard they (DOR) have done that with certain retailers, but not a common maneuver.

The potential bridge tolls will help Vancouver businesses, but shopping opportunities in Vancouver have vastly improved in the past 5 yrs, and a bunch in the 28 yrs I've been here. I was very upset that I had to pay sales tax AGAIN on all my motorcycles, boat, and any other licensed vehicles over two, that I brought into the state. I should have left that stuff in Colorado where the weather was nice enough to use them

As previously mentioned... WA is a great place to pay taxes.

There have been a raft of rifts between WA and OR... They used to have a 'reciprocal' fee on camping, where you had to pay EXTRA if you were a WA resident camping in OR, or Visa versa, but if you were from anywhere else it was cheaper

[coltoncity]

Some people hardly ever or dont shop in Oregon. They dont like going to the city. I went there for shopping trips a lot. Bigger bill stuff though. Electronics or things like a nice BBQ. I also did our big back to school shopping there sometimes. It helps when you only have a certain amount and it might not be enough. It always put me over the top to where I could get it. That is counting on the fact that you dont got to the expensive places like boutiques and Saturday Market etc. Some inner city stores and big box stores are perfect though.

[Carrie C.]

No, I actually do very little of my shopping in Portland (even though I work there). Sometimes for big things, where the savings will amount to $20 or more, it feels worth it to make the trip over, but usually I just shop local. Esp. with gas prices the way they are right now. Traffic in Portland can be a real headache, and is rarely worth the trouble. Although, since Ikea opened, I have been shopping over in Oregon a little more often than usual.

When I was a kid, I do remember my mom taking us kids over to Jantzen Beach every August for our back to school shopping. Having to buy so much stuff for four kids at once definitely warranted the trip over to Portland for my budget-minded mom.

[Taskism]

I ddo grocery shopping here in Vancouver, but I work in Oregon and already pay tax, so I try to keep my shopping in Portland when I can, no need to pay double the tax.

[Topaz]

When we lived in Camas, stores were always asking us if we lived in WA or OR so that they could tax us accurately. There wasn't much benefit to being on the WA side because my husband worked on the OR side so we paid all the Oregon income taxes and also the WA sales tax once we were honest about where we lived.

[Michie1]

I bought a high end vacuum in Vancouver ($300) and when I went to check out the owner said he appreciated my business so he wasn't charging me sales tax, he would pay it. Wow! He has a customer for life now