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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Those Dam Taxes! Washington Residents Working On Federal Dams Pay Oregon Income Taxes

Associated Press

Rick Robinson carries a little blue book with him at work.

For Robinson, a Washington state resident employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at McNary Dam, the book is a necessity at tax time.

He is one of about 80 people employed on federal dams along the Columbia River who live in Washington state but are required to pay Oregon income taxes.

“It’s not fair. People from Oregon can come over here and shop at Kmart and not have to pay sales tax,” said Bill Prewitt of Walla Walla, a rigging crew supervisor. “I’m getting it both ways.”

McNary Dam’s powerhouse is on the Oregon side of the river, while its spillway and navigation lock are in Washington. Fish ladders are located in both states.

When Robinson leaves his office inside the powerhouse and walks 100 feet north across an orange spray-painted line, he’s in Washington. Out comes the book and Robinson, an engineering technician, clocks in.

At the end of each year, he deducts the time spent working on the Washington side of the dam from his Oregon income tax.

Robinson, who lives in Walla Walla, pays about 9 percent of his annual $35,000 salary in Oregon income tax. Most years, he applies for a refund of as much as 50 percent for time spent working on the dam’s Washington side.

Washington has no income tax. Oregon does, and generally speaking, Washington residents who work in Oregon are subject to it.

But the federal dam workers are dealing with a 1941 law that gave Oregon authority to tax workers on federal projects to pay for state services.

It’s a silly system, says a Robinson co-worker, Roger Hays of Kennewick, who has been working for the past 3-1/2 years to change it.

A bill to do just that was narrowly defeated this year on the House floor. The legislation, cosponsored by Reps. Doc Hastings, George Nethercutt and Linda Smith, all R-Wash., would have exempted Washington residents who work at Columbia River dams from paying Oregon income taxes.

Several previous efforts failed to make it out of committee.

The federal employees hope that next year, the bill will become law. They cite the precedent set by members of Congress, Amtrak workers and truck drivers, who pay taxes only in their states of residence.

Oregon Department of Revenue officials contend employees who work on the Oregon side of the dams are earning income in Oregon and thus are subject to its income tax.

Hastings has promised to resubmit the legislation early next year.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo