As newspapers around the United States continue to close their doors, cut staff, pages and wages, the industry in Washington state may receive relief as the House has approved a tax break for newspapers, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The House backed the bill in a vote of 91-5 on Tuesday night. It now moves to the Senate for consideration. If passed, the bill would cut state business tax for newspapers by 40 percent through 2015.
"We are starting to lose the ears and the eyes on government, on all kinds of things in our society," said the bill's prime sponsor, House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, a Democrat, according to the AP article, posted by the Seattle Times.

The 40 percent tax cut is similar to breaks given to the Boeing Co. and the timber industry in recent years in Washington. Kessler said the cut would mean around US$1.5 million a year in lost tax revenue for the state.