Politics from the Palouse to Puget Sound

Thursday, July 20, 2006

What Do 500 New Pullman High-Tech Jobs Look Like?

If you haven't been on the north end of town in a while, I'll show you:


Schweitzer Engineering Labs' new corporate headquarters and conference center, 168 new jobs


Schweitzer Engineering Labs' manufacturing expansion, 300 new jobs


Isothermal Systems Research's expansion, 31 new jobs

Of course, this is great for Pullman, as these businesses will pay property, B&O, and other taxes.

The flip side is that Washington has no income tax and half of those 500 new workers won't live or shop in Pullman, sending their property and sales taxes somewhere else.

Pullman desperately needs to continue its housing growth and add more retail options to capture the full benefit of these new jobs.

2 comments:

April E. Coggins said...

I'm sure Lewiston/Clarkston are licking their chops. They will enjoy the increased sales tax revenue from our new jobs without having to provide the infrastucture. They have the ideal situation. People come to town, drop a lot of money and go home. What's not to like?

Dale Courtney said...

Alas, Moscow has nothing remotely similar.