How Two State Tax Systems Have (and Haven't) Shaped Metro
Portland    • April 18, 2012   • By Josh Goodman Portland,
Oregon  VANCOUVER, Washington - To understand how tough Tom
Craig's job is, you only have to take a look at the sign in the
window of the store he manages: "NO SALES TAX-We Pay It For
You." Craig is the president of Sparks Home Furnishings in
downtown Vancouver, a city that's often overshadowed by its
counterpart in Canada with the same name and by Portland,
Oregon, which is directly across the Columbia River.   In
Vancouver, the combined state and local sales tax rate is 8.4
percent. Oregon has no sales tax at all. To compete with Oregon
stores, Sparks doesn't charge its customers sales tax either.
Craig says the store doesn't raise prices to compensate for the
cost, so the money comes straight out of the store's bottom
line.  "Eventually, I think all higher-end retailers will be
gone from Vancouver and Clark County," he says. "I think it's
inevitable. We'll go to Portland to set up our store.