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House moves to protect sales
tax exemption for
self-service laundry facilities
Grant, Walsh lead bipartisan effort to assist both
consumers and business owners
The state House today
unanimously passed legislation to reenact a retail sales and use tax
exemption for self-service laundry facilities.
House Bill 1498 ensures that an exemption previously passed by the
Legislature in 2005 would be continued even if litigation currently
pending before the state Supreme Court overturns it.
Reps. Bill Grant (D–Walla Walla) and
Maureen Walsh (R–Walla Walla),
seatmates from the 16th Legislative District, co-sponsored the measure
in order to protect both consumers and small business owners.
“This exemption previously got tangled up in a separate bill instead of
being enacted in a stand-alone one, which is what we’d hoped for,” Grant
said. “I’m glad we’re finally addressing this issue once and for all.”
Prior to 2005, stand-alone self-service laundry facilities were required
to collect retail sales tax from customers. Facilities in apartment
complexes, rooming houses and mobile home parks were already exempt from
this obligation, however.
The tax is reflected in the price consumers pay to use the coin-operated
washers and dryers in these facilities.
“It really is a matter of fairness,” Walsh said. “This bill
basically does two things: it assists our small business owners by
providing a tax exemption already in statute for other laundry
facilities, and it is also socially responsible legislation that helps
the people who have to take a backseat full of laundry over to the
laundromat. It keeps the cost down for them to wash their clothes.”
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