PORT TOWNSEND — Retail sales will increase this year, but the local job market is not likely to greatly improve, predicted Washington Retail Association President and CEO Jan Teague this week.
“It will take some time for us to recover,” Teague told members of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
“Washington state often lags in national trends, and this year, we only expect a 1.2 percent growth in the job rate.
“But we need the increase in jobs before we can begin to recover from this recession.”
Retail sales are projected to increase about 4 percent this year, “and we had a really good July,” Teague said.
According to Teague, the state’s budget woes prompted several moves in the state Legislature that could harm small businesses.
Some of those, she said, her organization was able to help prevent.
One such move, which did not pass, would have eliminated the sales tax exemptions for out-of-state shoppers in places that do not charge sales tax.
This would have damaged the economy in Vancouver, Wash., she said, and would have discouraged shoppers from Oregon.
Another measure that didn’t pass would have imposed a greater tax on parking lots, which would force the lot owners to raise their rates and pass the increase onto the consumer, Teague said.
This, she said, would discourage shopping by making it more expensive.
“The state budget isn’t coming in like we hoped it would, so they are trying to cut costs,” Teague said of the Legislature.
She said more imaginative tactics can be used, such as providing a “sales tax holiday” where all purchases in a certain region would be exempt from sales taxes for a short time.
“This could generate sales, and the community could make a lot more money during that time than they would if they collected the tax,” she said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
