Tax Hell Week: income tax, property tax, bed tax

Taxpayer Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

This is one of those tax mania weeks in the Oregon Legislature.

Income Tax Increase (HB 3328): Yesterday, hearings were held on HB 3328 which creates an income tax increase to fund wildlife programs. This follows the Portland-area model of creating a flood of micro-income tax increases to pay for government bloat:

• Portland $50 Art Program Income Tax
• .7% Bus Service Income Tax
• 1% Homeless Service Income Tax
• 3% Preschool Income Tax.

Instead of balancing their budget, the Portland area politicians just kept adding Income Tax increases until Portland became one of the HIGHEST INCOME TAX areas in the nation.  This is the danger of passing micro-income taxes like HB 3328 to pay for individual budget programs (in this case wildlife).

Property Tax Increase (SB 852): On Thursday, The Oregon Senate Housing & Development committee will be hearing SB 852 which rips away home mortgage interest deduction for second homes. They aim to make housing more affordable by taxing one group of homeowners (who already pay higher than national average property taxes) to subsidize another group.  Home owners who rent their second home will now pay higher taxes on their renters who just happen to be not paying rent right now.

Bed Tax (Sb 570): On Thursday the House Energy Committee will be hearing SB 570 which is a hidden mattress tax. It forces all mattress sellers to pay an unspecified amount of every mattress sale into a “mattress stewardship” organization.  As politicians continue to make Oregon housing unaffordable, now comes the plan to make sleeping unaffordable.

The idea is to follow California’s mattress stewardship program.
Here is a photo of how successful California has been doing.

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