EAST LIVERPOOL Association wants businesses to absorb sales-tax increase

A store owner expects many merchants to cover the additional sales tax.
By MATT BIXENSTINE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
EAST LIVERPOOL -- McKee's Crossing store owner Linda Rhodes does not want to see her customers head across the Ohio River.
The president of the East Liverpool Business Association is one of at least 15 area merchants who will endorse an association policy to bear the burden of covering a new 1 percent sales tax increase rather than shift the tax to customers.
"I would rather pick up a penny and have them [customers] come buy a doll at McKee's Crossing than lose them to Pennsylvania," Rhodes said. "We want to preserve the revenue coming into Ohio."
When Gov. Bob Taft signed the two-year state budget, there was a provision that imposed the additional 1 percent sales tax effective July 1, raising overall sales taxes in Columbiana County to 7.5 cents on every dollar. The county has a 6.5 percent sales tax.
Competition
Merchants in the East Liverpool commercial district must compete to keep Ohio customers from traveling across state lines to do their nonessential shopping in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Rhodes said.
The owner of the gift and collectibles store on Market Street said she expects the majority of local merchants -- including East Liverpool Business Association members and nonmembers -- to announce their agreement to cover the additional sales tax when the association has a news conference this afternoon.
"I would like to see it [agreement] all over the state," Rhodes said.
Still, the new tax will present a challenge for some business owners, including Rhodes, who will have to have her cash register reprogrammed.
"I understand the state needs the money," she said. "But for small businesses, 1 percent is an expense."
mbixenstine@vindy.com