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Gold sales now being taxed in Washington State
459 sats \ 8 comments \ @Signal312 22h econ
Article from Seattle Times WA gold businesses, customers brace for upcoming tax changes
https://archive.vn/YtJRS
People that recently started buying gold and silver in Washington State, to hedge against inflation, will soon be hit by sales tax.
Minor will close his store in late December in response to the Legislature’s move in the last session to end a longstanding sales tax exemption on the sale of bullion. Starting Jan. 1, people who purchase precious metals in Washington will pay state and local taxes ranging from 7.5% to 10.6%. In Seattle, the sales tax will be 10.35%, which includes 6.5% in state tax and 3.85% in local tax, according to the state Department of Revenue.
In other words, if you buy an ounce of gold at the current price of around $4,100 in Seattle, you’ll pay around $425 in sales tax starting next year.
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34 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 22h
I wonder if Idaho has the same policy
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142 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 22h
He checked it out:
Not a fan of Washington’s tax policies, Minor said he was mulling an eventual move to Idaho anyway but hadn’t planned to leave for at least a couple of years. He said he might open a shop in Coeur d’Alene or Sandpoint, Idaho, a state that doesn’t tax bullion sales.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 22h
The exodus from the West Coast is pretty crazy.
I'd love to move to the Mountain West, but real estate prices bid up to crazy heights by all the West Coast refugees.
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34 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB 20h
This was implemented in my state. When I sold some silver I saw the flyer the dealer posted to stop the state legislature from passing such a law. They failed. But the guy was telling me about a loophole to ship it to a near by state to avoid the sales tax.
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @optimism 14h
The rationale in the bill is sparse:
Precious Metals and Bullion Tax Exemptions. Sales of precious metals and monetized bullion are exempt from B&O and sales and use taxes. Bullion dealers are subject to B&O tax under the service classification on amounts received in commissions for buying and selling bullions on behalf of customers. In 2024, JLARC reviewed the tax preference and recommended that the Legislature should determine whether to continue the exemption for sales of precious metals and monetized bullion. The report noted that the preference may not be achieving the inferred public policy objective of making Washington coin and bullion dealers more competitive with out-of-state competitors by treating precious metal and bullion sales like sales of investments rather than sales of tangible personal property.
It was never about the people, it was about stimulus to dealers.
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 14h
How is it a stimulus to dealers? Looks to me like they're being driven out of state.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism 14h
The exemption was a tax break to making local dealers more competitive, since '85.
The 2024 report has some more details about the recommendation. I read it as them being upset that out-of-state business is increasingly profiting from their policy.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BeeRye 17h
Insane
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