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Comment by evjim | Hacker News Reader

You just said it. They do their shopping in Oregon. So they probably buy the bottles their tax free. Save ten cents on tax, spend it on deposit. It's a wash to the consumer.

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> You just said it. They do their shopping in Oregon.

Which makes it quite convenient for them to “return” bottles gathered from other people who shop near where the returner loves in WA to Oregon for the deposit.

You seem to be only considering people returning bottles purchased for their own consumption.

The lack of sales tax doesn't really affect whether or not they buy considerable number of cans/bottles in OR - I just meant to say that it is _very common_ for Vancouver folks to shop for general goods after work in Portland, or drive into Portland area on the weekends. If they are saving bottles/cans it's very likely not an extra trip for them.

Many people in Oregon just give away their cans to the street. I imagine this is true in Washington as well. If a person collects free cans in Washington, where they're worth less, and brings them to Oregon for a higher return, then they would be gaming the system.

Yes, of course, but there would not be a lot of them.

No, that's not how it works. If you buy cans/bottles in Oregon, you get the bottle tax. Separate from the sales tax.

I think you're misunderstanding parent - Oregon has no sales tax, so the price of cans/bottles will be about the same as Washington, which has no deposit.

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