As states continue to look for money, it appears that Washington has come up with a plan that may soon come into effect.

According to KOMO News, Lawmakers are currently contemplating a plan to make residents of Oregon pay sales tax when they shop in the state of Washington.  Usually, Oregonians can show businesses in Washington their IDs and afford the sales tax charge, but this process will cause Oregon residents to have to apply for a refund after paying Washington businesses sales tax.

Although the benefits from this has been estimated to grant the state of Washington almost $18 million, Oregonians will need to spend about $384 more per year.

Freshman Kate John, a Portland native, says that it would be a huge pain to get reimbursed.  “It would be a really big pain to have to go through the process of getting reimbursed, which some places [in Washington] already do, like Forever 21,” she said.

John feels that it wouldn’t be as big of a deal in Seattle because a great deal of stores already require Oregonians to apply for reimbursement.  “In places like Vancouver, right next to the border, it’s how they get people to spend money there, because otherwise, why would they spend money when they can just go to Portland,” she said.

John states that this legislation would cause a lot of businesses on the border of Washington and Oregon to lose a lot of customers.  “I guess legally it’s probably fair [for me to pay sales tax] since I live most of my time [in Washington],” she said.  “But I am a resident of Oregon, and I don’t consider myself a resident of Washington.”

Portland native and freshman Rylie Schlottmann prefers to have the sales tax taken off right as she is making her purchases rather than later, but understands the legislation.  “I don’t think [the law] is unfair because we choose to live in a state that has sales tax,” she said.  “Just because our original state doesn’t charge tax, we should have to follow the ‘rules’ of the new state we live in.”

Yet, for freshman Jillian Armstrong, she feels that it is unfair as a student due to the fact that she is incapable of establishing residency in Washington.  “It doesn’t make sense that I should have to be subjected to the taxes of a state in which I am not legally considered a citizen,” Armstrong said.  “Having to pay both states’ taxes would be entirely unfair.”

As of now, legislative leaders in Olympia haven’t scheduled a hearing for the bill in the Washington state Senate.  The deadline for this bill at the moment is Tuesday because the proposal is budget-related.