It was presented as a campaign finance reform law, but there was a clause in there that perhaps a lot of people missed.

Initiative 1464 gathered headlines because it would restrict lobbying for political purposes by former public employees (government sector) and it would create a campaign finance system. Some said it would help limit lobbying and political action committee influence.

But the clause that business owners say would have hurt them is it would have REPEALED the tax-exemption for non-residents who buy goods and services here. It meant Oregon residents would have had to start paying sales tax on purchases here.

Newstalk870 Wednesday spoke with one of the owners of a prominent car dealership in the area, who does well and has a large footprint in the business community. They told us they haven't crunched the numbers, but said if it HAD passed, they would have seen the financial effects, in the millions of dollars.

The bill was defeated by a margin of about 53 to 47%, give or take a few percentage points.

It's not secret that for decades folks from Hermiston, Umatilla, Pendleton and other cities come here, especially for certain high-dollar items and large purchases, because they can save nicely by not having to pay the sales tax, because the prices are often more competitive. And sometimes, items are available here more readily than where they live.

 

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