Washington residents working at depot get raises for income taxes

This story was published Thu, Mar 29, 2001

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Washington residents who will be operating and maintaining the incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot will make 9 percent more than their Oregon colleagues.

Chris Early, of Washington Demilitarization Co., said some of the company's Washington employees will receive the raise to compensate them for paying Oregon's high income tax. People who live in Washington don't pay income tax on what they earn in Washington.

Only the company's long-term Washington state employees who will be working to destroy the 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents at the depot will receive the extra pay - not the construction workers building the facility because they are in a collective bargaining unit, Early said.

The company is trying to keep skilled and experienced Tri-City area workers who may be tempted to go back to work at Hanford.

"We are blessed here because we have a highly trained and qualified engineering work force because of Hanford - and many of our workers already lived in the Tri-Cities and are Hanford veterans," Early said. "The downside is that Hanford is doing a lot more hiring now than they were a few years back, so the income tax issues were a drawback in hiring and keeping the best people."

Early said 60 percent to 65 percent of the company's current 323 employees who will be working on the project are from Washington.

Still, there is some grumbling among the Oregon employees, Early said.

But they shouldn't gripe too much, he added, because the Washington residents are helping Oregon's schools, roads and social service departments without reaping the benefits.

"The other side of the coin is that there are a lot of people in Hermiston that shop in the Tri-Cities and the first thing they do is pull out their driver's licenses and say they aren't paying sales tax," Early said.

 

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