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Article: TAXING HABIT: SHOPPING IN OREGON CONTINUES TO HURT CLARK COUNTY'SECONOMY
- Article from:
- The Columbian (Vancouver, WA)
- Article date:
- May 17, 1998
- Author:
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CRAIG BROWN, Columbian
The Columbian
05-17-1998
After perhaps the strongest decade of growth and prosperity in Clark County's history, a Columbian analysis suggests that the local economy continues to struggle with a simple fact : We love to shop in Oregon and avoid Washington's sales tax.
How much do we love it? About $763 million worth in 1996.
Spending that money here could have provided 8,500 local jobs, $119 million more in annual payroll, and $4.7 million in local taxes -- enough to pay for a new swimming pool every year.
Put another way, that's more than the entire retail economy of Lewis County, home of Centralia, Chehalis and a well-known factory outlet mall.
Yet ...