"State of Contradictions: Just How Business-Friendly is Washington?"
By Aaron Corvin
Washington's decision to lean on sales and property taxes and its B&O tax is a "pretty good decision," says William Ahern of the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based group. The foundation this year ranks the state's tax system 11th best in the country for business. The absence of personal and corporate income taxes in Washington has tipped the state into increasingly favorable rankings over the years, Ahern adds. "States that have managed to do without [at least] one of the major taxes—either a tax on sales, as Oregon has, or on income [and corporate taxes], as Washington has—give themselves advantages," he says. In 2008, the Tax Foundation ranked Oregon 10th, Idaho 31st and California 47th.
But the Tax Foundation's 2008 analysis ranked Washington's sales tax 50th, says Ahern, because the state "levies its sales tax on most business inputs—such as services, manufacturing and leases—and maintains relatively high excise taxes."
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A...
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