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> Added bonus: If you live in Vancouver, WA (north suburbs of PDX) and work from home > (or just in WA), there's no state income tax. Please, please, please d
by rcoder 17y ago
> Added bonus: If you live in Vancouver, WA (north suburbs of PDX) and work from home
> (or just in WA), there's no state income tax.
Please, please, please don't suggest that more people take advantage of this loophole! The Vancouver/Portland commute has already rendered I-5 useless, and the residents on the Washington side are currently lobbying aggressively for a new 12-lane bridge (whose cost would be paid largely by Oregon) across the Columbia to ease the congestion without taking any steps (light rail, tolls, etc.) to reduce the amount of traffic.
Portland is what it is in part because residents of the city and Multnomah county are willing to pay relatively higher taxes than those in neighboring areas for a higher level of service from the city. Our transit + public services are pretty good, but the folks who drive down from Vancouver and ride the MAX through Fareless Square to shop without paying sales tax or income tax are just freeloading.
- kscaldef 17y agoI generally agree with your sentiment, but you should realize that people who live in WA and work in OR still pay OR income tax.
- rcoder 17y agoSure, they pay state income tax, but not property taxes, which are a major part of where the city and county get their funds for transit and public services. The differences between Portland and Vancouver are particularly stark, as the lack of an urban growth boundary in Clark county (where Vancouver is located) makes real estate (and therefore property taxes) much cheaper on the Vancouver side. When you get right down to it, my point is simply that people who like a progressive, tax-heavy city like Portland enough to spend a lot of their time there should probably be willing to pay the taxes that go along with that lifestyle. Otherwise, they're just making it that much harder on the full-time residents.