How do Oregon and Idaho tax precious metal bullion and what loopholes do Washington buyers use to purchase there?
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
Oregon levies no statewide sales tax, which effectively makes purchases of precious metal bullion there free of sales tax for buyers [1]; Idaho’s statutes specifically exempt gold and silver bullion from sales taxes [1]. Washington repealed its long‑standing bullion exemption effective Jan. 1, 2026, subjecting bullion and monetized coins to retail sales tax and the Business & Occupation (B&O) tax, and that change is driving Washington buyers to cross state lines and to seek legal purchase workarounds [2] [3] [4].
1. How Oregon treats bullion: a de facto tax haven because it has no sales tax
Oregon’s lack of a statewide sales tax means purchases of tangible goods, including gold and silver bullion, are not subject to sales tax there, and reporting about the bullion market treats Oregon as an obvious destination for buyers seeking to avoid sales taxes charged in neighboring states [1] [5].
2. Idaho’s statutory exemption: explicit carve‑out for gold and silver
Idaho’s code contains explicit exemptions for gold and silver bullion from sales tax, a statutory framework that places Idaho in the same practical category as Oregon for bullion purchasers who want to avoid sales taxes levied elsewhere [1] [6].
3. Washington’s policy change in 2026 and its mechanics
Effective Jan. 1, 2026, Washington stopped excluding precious metal bullion and monetized bullion from the definitions of wholesale and retail sales, bringing those transactions under retail sales tax collection and the retailing B&O tax; wholesalers can still transact without sales tax only when a valid reseller permit is used and the sale is treated as wholesaling for B&O purposes [2] [3] [4].
4. Immediate market effects and the incentive to buy out of state
Dealers and industry observers reported intense buying before the deadline and predicted that a 7–10% added tax burden would encourage purchasers to look across state lines to Oregon and Idaho to avoid the new Washington tax, a dynamic that state and industry sources say threatens local coin‑shop revenues [7] [8] [5] [9].
5. Commonly used legal workarounds: cross‑border purchases and reseller channels
The two principal legal approaches documented in reporting are: physically purchasing bullion in tax‑free Oregon or exempt Idaho to avoid Washington sales tax at the point of sale, and structuring purchases through wholesale/reseller channels where a valid reseller permit shifts the transaction into a wholesaling B&O tax treatment rather than retail sales tax—both tactics are discussed in state guidance and industry analysis [4] [7] [10].
6. Political pushback and possible reversal efforts
Legislators have already introduced bills—House Bill 2093 among them—to reinstate exemptions for precious metals, arguing that Idaho and Oregon’s tax policies create competitive disadvantages for Washington retailers and could hollow out local coin shops, an argument advanced by Republican lawmakers and industry groups [6] [11] [12].
7. Revenue arguments and the dealers’ perspective
Washington’s Department of Revenue estimated millions in additional revenue from the repeal, while coin‑shop owners warn of lost business to Oregon and Idaho and have launched campaigns and lobbying efforts to repeal the new tax; this frames the change as a trade‑off between state revenue and local retail survival [8] [13] [14].
8. Limits of available reporting and legal risk caveat
The available reporting documents the exemptions in Oregon and Idaho and the Washington policy change, and it outlines common avoidance strategies, but it does not comprehensively address downstream issues such as Washington use‑tax enforcement on items purchased out of state then brought into Washington, or the granular legal risk of misusing reseller permits—those specifics are not detailed in the supplied sources [1] [2] [4].