A Safeway customer in Portland is suing the store over having to pay an extra charge on certain non-grocery items that he said he didn’t know would be charged until he saw his receipt.

The complaint, filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, is the second class action lawsuit against a business in Portland passing on a surcharge to customers in apparent response to a new 1% city tax on certain large retailers.

It accuses Safeway of unlawful trade practices and unjust enrichment for charging a 3-cent surcharge on a bottle of wine advertised for $3.33. The first lawsuit was filed against AT&T for charging its wireless phone customer a 5-cent surcharge.

Portland officials have said AT&T shouldn’t have been charging customers in connection with the Clean Energy Surcharge because as a utility company, they are exempt from the tax. The city hasn’t announced any exemption for Safeway. It has said large retailers subject to the tax are free to raise prices or pass along surcharges of their own that appear on receipts. They can’t imply or say the clean energy surcharge is a customers’ tax, according to Tyler Wallace, Portland’s tax division manager.

The plaintiffs in both lawsuits are represented by Portland attorney Michael Fuller. Albertsons, which owns Safeway, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Shame on Safeway and shame on AT&T for doing this,” Fuller said Monday. “It’s not only unfair to customers, who are made to feel like this is a tax on them, but it’s also unfair to other businesses who are legitimately just paying the tax.”

Since Jan. 1, all large retailers have to pay a 1% surcharge on revenue from retail sales in Portland. Under the terms of the voter-approved measure, those are businesses with at least $1 billion in annual national revenue and at least $500,000 in yearly Portland sales.

Exempt are utilities, credit unions, co-ops and the sales of health care services, most groceries, medicine and drugs.

AT&T said Oct. 11 that they were told by the city that they are exempt from the tax and would be issuing refunds to customers. The company declined to provide any more information, including when the refunds would be given or how much money was collected from customers. It appears wireless customers have been hit with a surcharge since spring.

City officials say they can’t provide a list of companies required to pay the tax or which ones have paid so far, saying whether tax returns have been filed or how much in sales they reflect is protected financial information. The city estimates 500 to 1,000 companies are subject to the new tax and the city has collected about $11 million thus far.

The business tax is meant to help raise funds for clean energy projects, energy-saving retrofits for low-income homeowners and renters, green infrastructure and the creation of living-wage green energy jobs. Plans to spend the tax are meant to give priority to helping under-served Portland populations, communities of color and low-income residents.

[Read the lawsuit]

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

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