Progress on a bill giving college students a sales tax exemption on textbook purchases stalled in the state House Higher Education Committee Thursday.

If approved by the legislature, the exemption would have eliminated sales tax from student textbook and course material purchases at all college-and university-affiliated bookstores.

The bill — one of the centerpieces of the Washington Student Lobby's [WSL] legislative agenda for the session — drew the anger of House members after a financial study found it would cost the state $25 million in expenses and lost revenue per year.

The bill's failure to pass beyond the committee marked the fifth time in six years a textbook tax exemption was unable to gain support in the legislature.

The WSL remains hopeful a similar bill, slated to be heard in the Senate this week, will do better.

No one testified against the bill, but committee members were unmoved, saying the bill would create more of a financial burden than it was intended to alleviate.

ASUW lobbyist Bryce McKibben said the bill failed to muster enough strength to receive a vote due in part to strong opposition in the House Finance Committee, where — if passed by the Higher Education Committee — the bill would have gone next.

The bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Ellensburg, said there was a lot of concern among committee members about the bill's fiscal impact.

"It has to go through the finance committee and the chair is saying no way, no how. That's really what's preventing this from getting legs," she said.

Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver, the House Higher Education chair, was responsible for the no-vote on the bill. Wallace said a sales tax exemption on textbooks would be unfair to others with disadvantages.

"Why not decide to not charge sales tax on wheelchairs for people with disabilities?" she said. "We don't do that and that's just one of many examples."

As an alternative avenue, Wallace said she has plans to work with publishers after the legislative session to lower the price of textbooks.

University Book Store CEO Bryan Pearce was skeptical. He said talks between textbook publishers and lawmakers probably wouldn't amount to much.

"Publishers tend to shape the conversation in their favor," Pearce said. "They'll talk about things that, on the surface, sound beneficial to students, but when you look at the whole picture, it's not the case."

Pearce said publishers are strongly opposed to the sale of used textbooks and use used book sales as leverage to gain the upper hand in price negotiations.

Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, directed strong opposition in the House Finance Committee.

Hunter said a textbook sales tax exemption would create a bureaucratic and logistic nightmare for the state of Washington and bookstores alike. He took issue with the level of control employees would have over what is classified as a textbook and the authority of charging sales tax placed in employee hands.

"If you have an English [literature] class that has a 12-inch stack of books to read (in) a semester — the very same books that my wife likes to read — how do you figure out what is a textbook and what isn't?" he said.

Another reason Hunter gave for opposition to the sales tax exemption was the unfair advantage university-affiliated bookstores would be given over competitors.

Pearce said lawmakers are missing the point.

"The only retailers that are actually in the business of selling textbooks are those that would be granted the exemption," he said. "That's something that people in Olympia seem to have a hard time understanding."

Pearce said very little profit is earned by the University Book Store because of high publisher prices. He said the small amount of profit made off textbooks was invested in textbook and tuition scholarship programs from low-income students.

Hunter's opposition to the sales tax exemption bill is hardly surprising. His legislative efforts this session include sponsoring the Streamline Sales Tax bill — designed to close the sales tax loophole on inter-state Internet and mail order purchases — also passed through his committee.

"A sales tax exemption on textbooks flies in the face of the work done on sales tax streamlining," Hunter said. "It would be a huge hassle. It would be an expensive hassle."

Despite his criticism of a textbook sales tax exemption, Hunter is sponsoring four bills providing sales and excise tax exemptions to different industries.

Warnick said she's optimistic for the Senate companion to her bill, sponsored by Sen. Paull Shin, D-Edmonds.

"If you're willing to relinquish credit, so be it," Warnick said. "If Sen. Shin's bill is able to make it through the Senate then we've done our job."

Reach reporter Brian Slodysko at news@thedaily.washington.edu.