when calculating the sales tax to be paid on the automobile (e.g., purchasing a $40,000 car, and trading a $10,000 car, a person would be taxed on the difference of $30,000 only, not the full amount of the new vehicle). Residents of Canada and U.S. states or possessions having a sales tax of under 3%, e.g., Oregon, Alaska, and Alberta are exempt from sales tax on purchases of tangible personal property for use outside the state. Stores at the border will inquire about residency, and exempt qualified purchasers from the tax. A seller of a house or real estate pays excise taxes on the full sale price. The amount varies by county. In King and Snohomish counties, it is up to 1.78%. For example, selling a house for $500,000 will incur a tax of $8,900. Residents of Washington, who purchase goods for use in Washington, must pay a use tax in lieu of a sales tax, if any one of four conditions is true: If a Washington resident purchases goods and certain services in other states that do not charge a sales tax or charge a sales tax rate less than the sales tax rate in Washington, or if an out-of-state seller does not collect Washington sales tax, the resident must pay a use tax on all goods that will be used in Washington. Use tax must also be paid if a Washington resident purchases goods from a seller who is not authorized to collect sales tax or if personal property is acquired with the purchase of real property. Washington state does not typically pursue use tax collection for most purchases. However, in 2005, the Washington State Department of Revenue began to make a concerted effort to collect use tax on artworks acquired in other states. When staying at a hotel (60+ rooms capacity) in Seattle, the sales tax is 15.6%. The lowest combined state, county, and municipality sales tax rate in Washington is 7% in most of Klickitat and Skamania counties, while the highest combined sales tax in Washington is the 10.4% in some parts of Snohomish County. The highest sales tax in Washington is on liquor. The spirits sales tax is 20.5% of the value of the product purchased and a $3.7708 per liter spirits liter tax is assessed on spirits sold to consumers. 1 April 2008 saw tax increases in King County (+.001), Kittitas County (+.003), Mason