In the end, it took a recent trip to buy a pair of shoes at downtown Vancouver boutique Contessa to help convince Rep. Deb Wallace (D-Vancouver) to withdraw support for a controversial proposal to eliminate sales tax exceptions for out-of-state residents.
"I spoke with [shop owner] Elena [Figueroa] and she said, ‘This bill is not a good idea,'" Wallace said.
A four-term state legislator and announced Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District, Wallace also spoke this week with other business owners angry about a sales tax measure she first introduced during last year's legislative session.
What followed can most adequately be described as a change of heart.
"I was surprised and pleased by what I heard," said Ed Piel of Vancouver's Adco Commercial Printing & Graphics, who met with Wallace on Monday afternoon.
In a reversal of her previous position in favor of the bill, Wallace said she asked Washington state Speaker of the House Frank Chopp to kill the measure scheduled for debate during the legislative session starting Monday. According to Wallace, she also made a request to the chair of the relevant committee to stall the bill, which if granted, could effectively sideline the legislation indefinitely.
In a story appearing in the VBJ Dec. 25, Wallace called the removal of the sales tax exemption "a way to offset the need for local tax increases," referring to looming Clark County property tax hikes and a proposed Business and Occupation Tax in Vancouver.
However, Piel told the VBJ last month that his printing business would be severely impacted by the loss of Oregon-based clients if the sales tax exemption was removed. The exemption, enacted in the 1960s, allows businesses to waive sales tax on purchases made by residents of states, like Oregon, with either no sales tax or a levy less than that of Washington state.
Reached this week, business owners fiercely opposed to the measure seemed relieved at news of Wallace's opposition to scrapping the sales tax exemption. "It seemed like a simple thing, so black and white once you talked to businesses in this area and saw what a negative impact this would have," said Erik Runyan, owner of Erik Runyan Jewelers in downtown Vancouver.
Wallace cited one key factor in her decision to oppose the measure: jobs. "In this legislative session, I'm primarily concerned that we do things to create new jobs," she said, pointing to Clark County persistently-high unemployment rate.
In their meeting Monday, Piel told the veteran legislator that as many as two of nine positions at Adco could be lost if the exemption proposal was passed, according to Wallace.
David Montei, owner of Richey's Tire Factory in Vancouver, saw Wallace's policy shift more in terms of political expediency. "It would have been a death-knell for her political career," Montei said. "She finally realized that she would be hurting people in her own district, the people she needed to vote for her in November."
Wallace denied politics played a role in her change of position.
"Being a representative, it's important that I take the time to listen… that's why the system works," she said.
