Portland Cut Taxes! Praise for City Council.

In a unanimous 5-0 vote, Portland City Council voted to reform the Business Income Tax and make it fairer to small businesses. The Taxpayer Association extends hearty praise and genuine thanks to the whole Portland Council from Sam Adams to Erik Sten to Tom Potter to Dan Saltzman to Randy Leonard. This was no small matter either, as the city is forecasting to lose $3 million from the change (although true dynamic forecasting may show $3million in new revenue from increased business) The reform was so popular that even the twelve people from the public who showed up to testify (including liberals like Amanda Fritz) supported the plan.

There were lots of people who helped create this victory, and the one we saw work his heart and soul out was Dave Lister. Lister sacrificed of his time, his business, his money and his sanity to score this needful win for struggling small businesses. Lister may have knocked a few months off of his life due to stress, but we got a tax cut!

The reform changes helped to eliminate inequities that allowed big business to be under-taxed and small businesses to be over-taxed. The ordinance raised the corporate deduction from $50,000 to $80,000, raised the threshold for which the tax applies from $25,000 to $50,000, and changed the formula on how larger businesses get taxed. In the end, fainess ruled the day, Portland be thanked.