Oregon Public Broadcasting

The start of June means Washington residents must start paying sales tax on candy, gum and bottled water.

The tax on non-micro beers also goes up Tuesday. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins has details.

So much for that ninety-nine cent candy bar or that $1.79 bottle of water.

Washington retailers will now have to collect sales tax on top of that purchase price. It's part of the tax package majority Democrats approved earlier this year to help close a nearly $3 billion budget hole.

Mike Gowrylow is a spokesman with the Washington Department of Revenue. His agency has created a database for retailers with more than 6,000 candies sold in Washington. Mike Gowrylow: "While we expect implementation to largely go smoothly, there are going to probably be some people who don't do it right initially and we're going to work with them to try to help them get it right."

The trick is defining candy.

Under the law, if it has flour as an ingredient it's not taxable.

Also going up is the tax on mass-marketed beers sold in Washington. The tax hike is roughly 28 cents per six-pack. The taxes on beer and bottled water expire in 2013.