Washington State Tax Fact #3: Jobs Will Move to Oregon

Washington’s excessive sales tax of 6.5 percent already drives firms over the state’s southern border. The 15.4 percent increase in the sales tax rate that is proposed by I-884 will give businesses even more incentive to move to sales tax-free Oregon, putting more Washingtonians out of work.

The Washington Policy Center found that the Evergreen State would lose about 10,000 jobs if I-884 passes. With an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent– which is already significantly above the national average– Washington can’t afford to lose any more jobs.

Most of the job losses from I-884 would be in the retail sector. A smaller retail job base will exacerbate the problems for low-income earners, who will also pay a disproportionate amount of the regressive sales tax.

Job loss to Oregon is just one more reason why working families would pay more of the costs of this billion dollar tax hike.

For more information, please visit http://www.freedomworks.org/washington